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Posts: 175
| The Hous is currently hearing the Game and Fish Bill that includes 2-line provisions and iincludes in Section 44 wording that prohibits the MN DNR Commissioner from limiting the size of Northern Pike taken by spearing.
I don't want to start a spearing diatribe. The Bill needs to be changed, because the current Regulations work.
If a lake had 20% of the pike over 24 inches before the regulation, the percentage increased to about 38% after the regulation on average. A 5% increase in the percentage of northern pike over 30 inches does not at first seem like a substantial change, but it means we added one more fish over 30 inches for every 20 fish in the population. In that context, we had a fairly large influence on those big northern pike. Increases of about 3-4 inches in average length don’t seem very meaningful, they actually represent more than doubling the percentage of fish over 20 inches.
Ice-out trapping data from Lake of the Woods (with 30-40 inch slot limit) also showed increases in the percentages of northern pike over 30 inches, particularly for female fish. The slot length limit in Lake of the Woods began in 1996.
Populations where large fish were selectively harvested (as in most fisheries) displayed substantial declines in fecundity (reproduction), egg volume, larval size at hatch, larval viability, larval growth rates, food consumption rate and conversion efficiency, vertebral number, and willingness to forage. These genetically based changes in numerous traits generally reduce the capacity for population recovery in as few as 5 generations; this could explain why some lakes do not respond to regulations.
The DNR has spelled out in the Long Range Pike and Muskie plan to have no more than 125 lakes with special regs for Pike this is needed to address Hammer Handle lakes as well as the public's want for more opportunities to catch large pike as we found out during public input of the plan.
This is not an unreasonable amount of lakes considering the thousands that are subject to open harvest with no more than one over 30 inches.
Contact your Representative and Senator. Let them know you are against limiting the Commissioners authority. let the Long Range Plan work.
Go to this site to look up your Representative and Senator.
http://www.gis.leg.mn/mapserver/districts/
Here is sample wording:
RE: Game and Fish Bill (now contained in HF1132)
I am against Section 44, the section prohibiting the DNR Commissioner from limiting the size of northern pike that may be taken by spear.
Hon. Representave, the State of Minnesota has the best fishing opportunities in the country because up until now the DNR has managed lakes using science. We do not need politics involved. The MN DNR went through painstaking public input and created a Long Range Muskellunge and Trophy Northern Pike Plan. The people have spoken. Let the Plan work. Vote against this provision.
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MN Fisherpeople - Act Now