Jack Rodzik
Overfishing
April 7, 2011
248-974-8926
word count: 591
Overfishing Deemed Problematic In Some Michigan Areas
Starting May 1, 2011, Michigan fishing laws will increase the daily possession limit for Walleyes on Lake Erie from five to six. This new law raises questions regarding the topic of overfishing in Michigan.
LANSING-Mich., There has been concern that, like the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Michigan’s inland lakes and five Great Lakes may be victims of overfishing. However, overfishing may be a problem wherever fish and fisherman are involved.
Overfishing has been a concern on the international level, overfishing in Japan concerning the Bluefin Tuna is nearing the point that World Wildlife Fund (WWF) projects that if the rate remains consistent, that specie will become extinct.
Brian Irwin, a visiting assistant professor at Michigan State University, breaks overfishing up into three different categories. He describes recruitment overfishing as taking more fish than the population can replenish, growth overfishing as taking fish before they reach their optimal size, and the category that is more common among recreational fishing, quality overfishing. Quality overfishing does not push the specie to its reproductive limit, but the qualities of those fish are limited.
Recreational fishing has become less popular over the years, with new technology and new sources of entertainment, the public trends have been to stray away from spending time fishing. According to the Mar. 2008 Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Research Report 2088, Michigan’s freshwater angler participation declined by 23% from 1991 through 2001.
Commercial fishing is where the problem lies for overfishing. Whitefish is among the most popular of targets to fish for in the Great Lakes. The Harvest of Fishes from Lake Michigan states that in 1985, 278.6 thousand pounds of whitefish were caught for sport and 7520.7 thousand pounds commercially. The number dropped to 88.2 thousand pounds for sport and 4644.9590 pounds commercially in 2008.
Overfishing on a wide-scale over two decades has drastically changed the numbers of whitefish in the Great Lakes, but Michigan’s recreational fishing seems to be suffering in an entirely different way.
Michigan DNR Director and MSU Alumni, Rodney Stokes, addresses four immediate priorities, which he says will influence people to become more involved in the outdoors. The four priorities are; A Renewed Emphasis on Customer Service, Strong Support of the Recreational Passport, Increase Participation In Outdoor Recreation and Reverse the Decline in Hunting and Fishing Participation and Fostering the Growth of Michigan’s Natural Resource-Based Economy. With this plan of action, Stokes seeks to generate more outdoorsmen who participate in more outdoor activities, making more profit on the already-successful, fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, boating and snowmobiling activities that produce a total of $9 billion a year.
Stokes intends on generating more fishermen, to counteract the declining amount of anglers in the past.
The new fishing license that became required on April 1, 2011 made changes to lake sturgeon, lake herring, amphibians, reptiles and crustaceans. Anglers who target/fishes lake sturgeon are now required to obtain a lake sturgeon tag, which is free of charge.
Overfishing in Michigan is deemed an actual problem when looked from a commercial perspective. The Great Lakes may not be suffering much from it now, but if commercial fishers continue to harvest more than they are allowed, then problems will arise. As far as locally, the limpact of overfishing in Michigan may not hurt Michigan residents directly or at least it would make less of an impact than in other regions.
“We don’t need fish to survive, we have other sources of protein. Down the street there’s a McDonalds!” Irwin said.
