No Walleye for Bays de Noc

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians has objected to planting of walleye on the Bays de Noc in the Upper Peninsula preventing the Department of Natural Resources from planting 3 million fry stock this spring and another 30-thousand fingerlings in the fall. The DNR says the tribe is objecting to the walleye plantings because the state will not amend the 2000 Consent Decree regarding the walleye bag limit for tribal members on Lake Huron. DNR Director Keith Creagh says the two issues are not related and, in a letter to the tribe’s attorney, called the tactic “reprehensible” given that the tribe did not object to the plantings during earlier meetings. The state needs consent and agreement from the tribe to stock the fish in Little Bay de Noc. The plantings are needed, Creagh said, because the fishery on the bay has been declining.