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New 5 Year Agreement Between DNR, Red Lake Nation & BIA


DonBo

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The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Red Lake Nation, and Bureau of Indian Affairs have signed a new five-year agreement that outlines how the parties will work together to maintain the health of the Upper and Lower Red lakes fishery.

The new memorandum of understanding closely parallels a 1999-2009 agreement that helped restore high-quality walleye fishing to Minnesota’s largest inland body of water. The agreement, among other things, states each entity will support the Red Lake Fisheries Technical Committee, a joint panel of experts that recommends policies and practices to maintain a healthy fishery.

“We’ve come a long way in the past decade,” said DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten, noting that anglers have caught more than 1.1 million pounds of walleye since the lake was reopened to fishing in 2006. “By renewing this agreement, we are reaffirming our commitment to a process that has delivered results.”

“Red Lake Band members are pleased that our walleye have come back and our fishing community is revitalized,” said Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians. “We are committed to ensuring that Red Lake walleye are managed sustainably in the future. Renewing this agreement will enable the Fisheries Technical Committee to continue its work to help protect this valuable resource.”

The agreement was signed today during a brief ceremony in Red Lake. Historically, Upper and Lower Red lakes were outstanding walleye fisheries, but they collapsed in the mid-1990s due to over harvest.

The Red Lake Fisheries Technical Committee was formed in 1998. Since then, the regulations, policies and other actions this joint body has recommended have led to a healthy walleye population and a resurgent walleye fishing economy

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not trying to start anything but just curious, "noting that anglers have caught more than 1.1 million pounds of walleye since the lake was reopened to fishing in 2006"

what is the figure for # of lbs netted/taken by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa?

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Its great to see the 3 entities up there working together to sustain a great fishery and not just to sustain it but improve it. And lets not forget the resort owners contribution witch we owe a debt of grattitude.

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Its great to see the 3 entities up there working together to sustain a great fishery and not just to sustain it but improve it. And lets not forget the resort owners contribution witch we owe a debt of grattitude.

Amen brother.

Not to hijack here but what was the book about the history of URL? ShakyLegs might have mentioned it earlier in the season.

It's great to hear that we can all work together towards the common good of such a wonderful resource.

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H-20 = WATER ON MY SMALL WORLD. AS FAR AS THIS AGREEMENT GOES ANYTHING THAT BRINGS DOWN THE IRON CURTIN OF MISTRUST ON EITHER SIDE OF THE BORDER IS A GODSEND. LIKE IT OR NOT, THEY CONTROL 83% OF RED AND IF WE KEEP BUTTING HEADS, WHAT WE HAVE NOW IS AS GOOD AS IT WILL EVER GET.

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Thanks to all who have worked so hard to bring this lake back to what we enjoy today. I'm sure everyone will strive to work together as everyone has alot a stake there.

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wE REALLY HAVE A CHANCE FOR A BRITE FUTURE ON THIS LAKE WITH COOPERATION ON BOTH SIDES, WHO KNOWS. I AM JUST LOOKING FORWARD TO HOOKING INTO MY FIRST RED LAKE STURGEON (ONE OF 20,000 THAT THE BAND STOCKED) , IF I DON'T MAYBE MY GRAND KID WILL.

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not trying to start anything but just curious, "noting that anglers have caught more than 1.1 million pounds of walleye since the lake was reopened to fishing in 2006"

what is the figure for # of lbs netted/taken by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa?

Sportfishing has averaged a far higher percentage of our safe allowable harvest then the Band has of their safe allowable harvest.

I'm just happy that there is a new agreement. GREED on both sides of the Reservation Line wiped out the walleyes before.

Slimy brings up a good point. The Band not only has 4 TIMES more water then we do but also about 3% or 4% of the number of fishermen then we do.

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How many fishermen does a gill-net equal? I would like to know how many of the 240,000lbs. that were gill-netted in 09 came from URL. Seeing that URL is jointly managed an effort should be made to protect the lake from the gill-net fishery.

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halad, what difference does that make? Harvested fish are harvested fish when it comes to a total weight. Why don't you go over to the Red lake fisheries office and ask them face to face?

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http://stmedia.startribune.com/documents/Red+Lake+MOU+Renewal_Final_With+Signatures.pdf?elr=KArksi8cyaiUo8cyaiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

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Sorry pal, I just like push buttons,like yours. But pushing buttons is sometimes what you have to do to get the attention of some of our elitist DNR personal who often are controlled more by politic than practical management. For instance the northern slots on Red I can not see how they can manage these fish when 83% of the northens are managed by a seperate entity and I never recall a crash oh the northern population here. The reason we have that slot, is from a strong lobby of fishing guide who can catch and release these fish time and time again. I'm sorry to say it but Red has become the lake with all the crazy rules and sometime overzealous DNR enforcement.

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I'm not really connecting with the concept that the DNR has anything to do with this fishery. The DNR/sport fishing entity has control of approximately 1/8 of this basin. Give me a break...7/8th of the fishery armed with gillnets??? Whos calling the shots here? Sorry...just callin'em hows' I sees' em.

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True the fisheries at Red Lake is tossing a few nets out. But they are'nt getting near their qouta. Most of the big lakes do get netted. Leech, Winnie, and Mille Lacs are netted by native fishermen. You have to remember it is their 2/3's to do with as they see fit. The Red Lake Nation is doing a stand up job of managing their fisheries. The fisheries as a whole is in great shape and my hats are off to both sides for looking out for this resource.

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Brad Dokken of the Grand Forks Herald expanded on the usuall press release in his article. I find it interesting that since walleye fishing resumed in 2006 sportfishing has taken 1.1 million pounds of walleye from 18% of the Red Lakes. The Red Lake Band has taken 1.2 to 1.5 million pounds of walleye from 82% of the lakes.

If my figures are correct then the Band has taken 6.36 pounds of walleye per acre of water. Sportfishing has taken 22.91 pounds of walleyes per acre of water. 6.36 for the Band compared to 22.91 for sportfishing. And people are complaining about the Band?????? confused

Here is Brad Dokken's article

Minnesota DNR, Red Lake Band renew walleye agreement

Herald Staff Report

RED LAKE, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs have signed a new five-year agreement that outlines how they will work together to maintain the health of the Upper and Lower Red lakes fishery.

The agreement was signed Thursday during a brief ceremony in Red Lake.

The new memorandum of understanding closely parallels a 10-year agreement signed in April 1999 that helped restore high-quality walleye fishing to Minnesota’s largest inland body of water. The agreement, among other things, states each entity will support the Red Lake Fisheries Technical Committee, a joint panel of experts that recommends policies and practices to maintain a healthy fishery.

“We’ve come a long way in the past decade,” DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten said in a news release, noting that anglers have caught more than 1.1 million pounds of walleyes since the lake was reopened to fishing in 2006. “By renewing this agreement, we are reaffirming our commitment to a process that has delivered results.”

Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, echoed that sentiment.

“Red Lake Band members are pleased that our walleye have come back and our fishing community is revitalized,” Jourdain said. “We are committed to ensuring that Red Lake walleye are managed sustainably in the future. Renewing this agreement will enable the Fisheries Technical Committee to continue its work to help protect this valuable resource.”

According to Pat Brown, tribal fisheries biologist for the Red Lake DNR, quotas under the new agreement are basically the same as before. The band’s annual quota in the harvest season that began Dec. 1 is 829,000 pounds, Brown said, while the Minnesota DNR has set a maximum harvest of 168,000 pounds for the 12-month period in state waters.

The goal, Brown said, is to manage for a population of mature female walleyes that ranges from 2 pounds to 3 pounds per acre. The population is in that range now, based on fisheries surveys, Brown said.

“The fish we are seeing are looking very healthy, he said. “We’ve got them all the way from age 0 up to age 8 and not too many gaps in there.”

If surveys were to show a decline in spawning females, Brown said managers would reduce the harvest quotas. He said the band has harvested about 1.2 million to 1.5 million pounds of walleyes, in total, since fishing resumed in 2006.

According to Brown, the previous agreement was for 10 years because managers felt it would take that long for walleye populations to recover. Now that the walleyes are back, Brown said the two sides opted for a five-year agreement because 10 years seemed too long.

“This way we can review it every five years,” he said.

Historically, Upper and Lower Red lakes were outstanding walleye fisheries, but they collapsed in the mid-1990s after years of over harvest in both state and tribal waters. The Red Lake Fisheries Technical Committee was formed in 1998. Since then, the regulations, policies and other actions this joint body has recommended have led to a healthy walleye population and a resurgent walleye fishing economy.

Brad Dokken

Outdoors editor

Grand Forks Herald

(800) 477-6572 ext. 148; (701) 780-1148

(701) 780-1123 (fax)

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Kelly, good info. there.

Are the Red Lakes going to be continually stocked or is natural reproduction going to be strong enough?

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The stocking ended a few years back. I think the lake was stocked in 1999, 2001 and 2003. Natural reproduction seems to be doing fine with strong years classes. The Band also runs a hatchery on LRL.

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In 09 the band took 625,000, the State side 147,000, illegal fish not counted. The problem with gill-nets is they dont discriminate. Guess why URL has always been known as a small fish lake. Could it be because its always been a gill-net fishery.

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Sure gill netting doesn't help but how do you explain that before any gill netting ever took place in the Red Lakes that the walleyes in the LRL were bigger then the walleyes in URL? When the homesteaders first arrived on the Red Lakes the walleyes were bigger in LRL. Grandpa traveled back and forth between the two lakes hundreds of times even taking his family and living with the Band Members at Ponemah and he knew that the walleyes were bigger in LRL. Why can Band members catch crappies year around in LRL while we have a very hard time finding any after June? Why do Band members catch a lot of very nice 12+ inch perch in LRL?

The answer I believe is STRUCTURE. The shallow eastern end of URL is the "nursery". It warms up 4 to 6 weeks faster then the deeper LRL. Fish fry and fingerlings have a far better chance of surviving and growing in a warm food rich environment. Bigger fish do not need as much food and like it cooler. Different ages and sizes of fish look for different environments/structure. When I first found "the Rock" the walleyes there were far bigger then anywhere else around URL but when GPS’s came out and everybody could find it the size of the walleyes there dropped to the average URL size.

Why didn’t the “homesteaders” in the early 1900’s catch 8, 10 or 12 pound walleyes from URL before any netting ever took place in either lake? No a 5 pound walleye was a very big walleye from URL back in the early “1900’s”. Grandpa was one of the first to set gillnets in the Red Lakes. He hauled many netters catch from both lakes to the fisheries plant in Redby for them. He saw the size of the catches and the size of the fish from different areas of both lakes. Why do you suppose that when the Red Lake Band made him an honorary member he immediately moved his gill nets to Reservation waters? That didn’t last long as the Band took his “Honorary” title away real quick and told him he had to take his nets back to eastern URL. grin

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Sorry pal, I just like push buttons,like yours. But pushing buttons is sometimes what you have to do to get the attention of some of our elitist DNR personal who often are controlled more by politic than practical management. For instance the northern slots on Red I can not see how they can manage these fish when 83% of the northens are managed by a seperate entity and I never recall a crash oh the northern population here. The reason we have that slot, is from a strong lobby of fishing guide who can catch and release these fish time and time again. I'm sorry to say it but Red has become the lake with all the crazy rules and sometime overzealous DNR enforcement.

Slimy, push away. There are very few places in the state that can ecologically grow large northern pike. Red is one of them. When you see pictures and pictures of dead northern pike over 40" and see accumulating evidence of large fish being removed through the creel, wouldn't it be wise to give more people the opportunity to catch large pike, and more people the opportunity to catch even larger pike (40 to 44")?

I'm inferring from your comments that you believe the pike slot is worthless because so little of the water is controlled by the state, and that we cannot control what the band does. The fact is the mesh sizes of the nets used by the tribe don't catch large pike, the ones that the slot is trying to protect. So the angling pike slot does work to achieve the goals of protecting large and trophy pike.

If your goal is to go out and catch a limit of eater pike, Red isn't the place to go, with or without a slot. Plain and simply, it's a walleye lake with bonus trophy pike and crappie. There are plenty of lakes not too far from Red to catch eater pike. I wouldn't pin it on the guides; there are plenty of people in the state that want to protect the nearly extinct trophy pike this state used to have, and the only way to do it is to put 'em back in the water.

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IMO it should of been left a crappie lake like it was.There are alot of places you can find walleyes not a lot of places hold 15" Crappies

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catchphoto, If you want to read more about why the crappie boom could not and can not hold on, I would recommend buying the most recent Outdoor News (Jan. 29, 2010) and reading Joe Albert's story about the crappie boom on Red Lake, or do a search of past discussions within this forum.

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catchphoto, If you want to read more about why the crappie boom could not and can not hold on, I would recommend buying the most recent Outdoor News (Jan. 29, 2010) and reading Joe Albert's story about the crappie boom on Red Lake, or do a search of past discussions within this forum.

is there anyway to read this article online?

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IMO

Any lake where netting take's place in this day and age

should be left to the people doing the netting period

I dont want my money (taxes..license fees..etc etc )

being spents on managing nets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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IMO

Any lake where netting take's place in this day and age

should be left to the people doing the netting period

I dont want my money (taxes..license fees..etc etc )

being spents on managing nets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahh, ignorance is bliss, isn't it?

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