Letter to the Editor

Politics and science don’t mix

Dear Editor:

In 2010, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker reshaped the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The emphasis on science was changed and many staff members roles were removed and the DNR secretary took on the role of policy setter. 

Walker allocated millions of dollars to the Art Oehlmke Hatchery and Tommy Thompson Hatchery, renovating and expanding both hatcheries and installing plastic liners in all hatchery ponds. 

The lined ponds were touted as a way to increase production and reduce seepage and the tribal hatcheries soon followed suit. Extended length fingerlings were raised in these ponds for up to four months. 

Their use was never tested in Wisconsin. The results have been disastrous with both walleye and muskie showing greatly reduced survival and reproduction.

The DNR stocks fish at boat launches which usually have poor spawning habitat. Fish will imprint on their spawning grounds and return to spawn successfully. Big Arbor Vitae, which was a great walleye lake, has been mismanaged. 

The DNR took eggs and milt from walleyes on Big Arb for 30 years. The problem is that DNR protocol was never followed. Their own rules state that a certain percentage of fry or fingerlings must be stocked back. This was not done until 2025 when the DNR stocked 17,000 contaminated fingerlings. 

Most people have heard of the $75,000 that the Muskie Alliance donated to the Woodruff hatchery to raise 17,000 muskie fingerlings. When they went to seine the pond, 3,800 fingerlings remained. 

I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg.

What is the answer? I am trying to locate a suitable natural pond that could be used from July through September to raise small fingerling muskies to large fingerlings which have a greater chance of survival.  I have some volunteers but more are needed. 

Walleyes for Tomorrow and the Walleye Restoration Foundation have the right idea to rehabilitate the walleye populations.. They raise fry at portable hatcheries where they can imprint on the water and drop them over deep woody brush that serve as cover for the vulnerable fry. This is where the plankton live that the fry need.

If you would like to help in any of these endeavors, call  Jim Lund at 920-948-5706.

Jim Lund

St. Germain