Mille Lacs safe walleye harvest for 2014 is lowest ever

The safe walleye harvest for Lake Mille Lacs this season will be just 60,000 pounds, the lowest ever, officials announced Friday.

To put that in perspective, in 2006 the safe walleye harvest was 600,000 pounds, the highest ever.

The Department of Natural Resources and tribal officials agreed to the ultra-low harvest because of concern over declining walleye numbers on the lake, long the state's most popular walleye fishery. What that 60,000-pound harvest quota means for fishing regulations when the season opens May 10 has yet to be determined.

The DNR said the regulations likely will be "similar" to last year. The DNR will meet with the Mille Lacs advisory group before setting next season's regulations.

We'll have much more on our Sunday Outdoors pages. Here's the DNR news release:

Walleye anglers on Mille Lacs Lake will likely see regulations similar to last year when the season opens May 10, based on the safe harvest level announced today by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The 2014 walleye safe harvest level is 60,000 pounds. Of this amount, 42,900 pounds is allocated to the state and 17,100 pounds is allocated to the eight Chippewa bands with 1837 Treaty harvest rights. These allocation amounts were recently agreed upon at a meeting of DNR and tribal natural resource leaders.

"Is the walleye population where we want it? Absolutely not," Pereira said, "but restrictive harvest opportunities this year will not impair the lake's ability to produce future generations of walleye. Mille Lacs has and always will be a great fishing destination."

Pereira said the conservative allocations – the lowest since cooperative treaty management of the lake began in 1997 – reflect biologists' deep concern about the lake's recent inability to produce large crops of young walleye, despite adequate spawning stock and excellent production of young-of-the-year, fingerling-sized fish. The lake has not produced a strong year class of walleye since 2008.

The Mille Lacs safe harvest level has ranged from a high of 600,000 pounds in 2006 to this year's low of 60,000 pounds. Actual harvests, however, have been very low in some previous years. In 2003, for example, state anglers took only 66,492 pounds of walleye and similar situations occurred in 2004 and 2008.

"We have not yet finalized size or bag limit regulations for the 2014 fishing season and won't until we confer further with citizens later in February," Pereira said. "Meanwhile, we will continue to seek answers to the perplexing problem of young walleye survival and will also open our entire fisheries management books to a newly formed "blue ribbon" panel of nationally recognized fisheries experts."

Pereira said the agency is exploring new ways to engage citizens this year because it will seek input on harvest reduction options in addition to walleye slot length and bag limit regulations. These options, such as an extended night fishing ban, would help to ensure the walleye safe harvest level is not exceeded.

In contrast to walleye, northern pike continue to increase in abundance, with record catches of young fish in the last two assessments. The total harvest cap will be increased for the coming fishing season to 100,000 pounds with equal allocation between the state and the bands. The DNR will also explore expanded angling opportunities for both pike and smallmouth bass.

Pereira also said Brad Parsons, the DNR's central Minnesota regional fisheries manager and a long-time research biologist, has been assigned to lead the DNR's efforts to turn the Mille Lacs walleye population around as quickly as possible, while minimizing negative impacts to the local community and economy. "Brad is a strong leader who brings a fresh set of eyes to this effort, as well as extensive walleye research and management experience," Pereira said.

Final 2014 Mille Lacs open water fishing regulations will be announced in March.