Some Consent Decree news...

Luv2hunteup said:

Pretty well every restaurant at the tip of the mitt serves locally caught whitefish. Big Stone Bay Fisheries along with Manley and Massey Fish markets are always busy. Those are just a few that I can think of. If you time it right you can buy right from the local fisherman when they dock in the Cheboygan River, Nunns Creek or Hammond Bay Harbor. Nothing illegal about buying fresh fish from native fishermen.

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Gordon Casey said:

That is the reality! The Tribes have the legal right, defined by law, to commercial fish and sell what they catch. I believe the Consent defines quotas but as was said many times, enforcement is required for them to live within the quotas.
I mentioned a few years back my conversation with the Grandson of LeBlanc, the guy that got this ball rolling. He was pissed and felt that they got screwed with fishing zones and quota's defined in the Consent. He felt the DNR and Fed's did not do their job supplementing fish as per the Consent. He said they keep whatever is in the nets, I seen bluegill, lakers, whitefish, perch and a sturgeon in the display case. Tribal courts symphatize with them.
The Consent rumor mill talks about no defined exclusive zones for the Tribes and a more favorable ratio of fish they can keep.

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SJC said:

I suppose MUCC would be one-sided when it comes to the director of the Department of Natural Resources doing zero to protect said resources. The "director" has has no care for the interests of the states recreational anglers or conservationists. His only interest is to pander. He is not doing his job. He needs to go. There is no "other side"...

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Waif said:

My mind is not made up.

The abundance of alewives was a result of thier having good feed.
We've likely discussed the introduction of salmon as not being 100% due to potential alewive control but rather good timing. I no longer know how long or strong an idea of salmon existed prior. But don't believe it was a quick idea.
A booming overabundance of alewives followed by a booming salmon introduction. One description as they started making spawning runs may have been "glorious".
Living in Muskegon at the time and seeing coho fever , plus the first salmon we encountered in our tired old 16 footer we as well as a salmon were hooked on the possibilities.

That's gone. That boom. We clank through trying to keep it propped up and better balanced with prey/feed and social desires. Plus of course the commercial aspect ; including native take.

No I seriously don't expect applause for lakers like a fishing outing to Stannard rock on the right day can stimulate.
Or to get rich hauling them around the country for unique sushi. (Freeze to kill parasites and charge enough that consumption rates fall below toxic levels.)

Maybe I'm wrong to see smaller salmon and numbers as a confirmation of the boomtimes tail out.
Attention to other species with nets in hand by others (yes I understand whitefish and others are/were the focus of netters) isn't going to cause fights to build salmon weirs at more river mouths due to a bounty of them.

So we trend as one species falls off in bounty ; to look for a substitute or supplement.
We should have quotas set below yellow caution we're too heavy on the haul for each specie. That's good.
Our looking around for substitutes though is a state of flux. Again.
We have lakers. Why not utilize them then? Too toxic? If so we know part of the causation is not our fisheries fault.
So the heck with another native specie and seek a substitute for them? Yes I see that in salmon and your logic.
I don't see salmon in the light prior though.

Small scale I've seen a lake killed off repeatedly . Each time a blank slate.
From a foot visibility sewer fed water to clear water.
From carp and crappie to bass and trout.
From weedy to much more open basin. Early post weed kill start of algae.
One early trout planting turning belly up when it hit the lake.
Control though of the lake. (Except for it's pesky connections and nonplanned human introductions of other species.)
And boy howdy folks had fun with those trout. But that was a put take type deal. Sustainability; synthetic again.

We're not going to do that with the great lakes. Those mudlines where rivers tail out are not just sterile dust. Nor the sediments beyond. But we will dredge. We must.
Thier self-tolerating run offs seasons and regulating through evolution , we alter. Despite the former appearance of being infinite and self healing.
Preference and acceptability of native species took a hit with the glorious start of coho fever and salmon era.
The balance of social desire and marine biology in a finite system and our plans of what a system should host, well here we are. You know the currents being fought by rudders.

It was good that a bathtub might float and a coho be caught.
Not so good when charter boats got thinned out as the party music quieted.
Smoked chubs or whitefish I'd have to hunt to find.
Miss them chubs.
Smoked salmon at the stores I hit , way beyond my budgets taste. For about just a taste.
Lots of people in the country. Maybe that's why I don't see great lakes fish around I wouldn't afford anyways?
Bringing me back to unwanted lakers. Made unacceptable not just due to fat in larger ones , but human synthetic chemicals combined with natural mercury?

If we could just grow fish away from our footprint and contaminated environment!

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