WISCONSIN’S EVOLVING MANAGEMENT RESPONSES TO OBSERVED AND PROJECTED DECLINES IN TWO VALUED SPORTFISH POPULATIONS

Wisconsin’s waters are warming, and some iconic sportfish populations are struggling to adapt. Complexities in these declines and their sociopolitical contexts hinder easy solutions, especially across large scales. In Wisconsin, these issues are playing out most prominently with two native, highly valued sportfish – walleye and brook trout. The prevailing response has been to resist these declines through both traditional and experimental fisheries management techniques. Strategies that accept climate-driven changes or that direct fisheries to new, desired states have been rare. Recently, however, the magnitude and scope of climate-induced changes have stimulated both strategic long-term thinking about smarter resistance, and how, where, and when to adopt accept or direct strategies. For brook trout, we are beginning to target resources toward watersheds most likely to sustain brook trout in a warmer climate, hoping to increase resistance effectiveness. For walleye, resistance efforts have been wide-ranging, with recent intensive targeted rehabilitation efforts in critical ecosystems. Simultaneously, we are developing conceptual frameworks to help guide shifts to alternative strategies, and are beginning structured decision-making processes to inform how we can best meet multiple objectives that are inherently difficult to achieve and complex to implement. Insights from these efforts may be useful to many climate adaptation problems in fisheries and aquatic ecosystems.

Primary Presenter: Alexander Latzka, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (alexander.latzka@wisconsin.gov)

Authors:

Alexander Latzka, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (alexander.latzka@wisconsin.gov)

Paul Cunningham, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Paul.Cunningham@wisconsin.gov)

Colin Dassow, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (colin.dassow@wisconsin.gov)

Holly Embke, United States Geological Survey  (hembke@usgs.gov)

Zachary Feiner, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (zachary.feiner@wisconsin.gov)

Joseph Hennesy, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Joseph.Hennessy@wisconsin.gov)

Mark Luehring, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission  (mluehring@glifwc.org)

Abigail Lynch, United States Geological Survey  (ajlynch@usgs.gov)

Craig Paukert, University of Missouri  (paukertc@missouri.edu)

Gregory Sass, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Gregory.Sass@wisconsin.gov)

Aaron Shultz, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission  (aaronshultz@glifwc.org)

Bradd Sims, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Bradd.Sims@wisconsin.gov)

Lori Tate, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Lori.Tate@wisconsin.gov)

Max Wolter, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Max.Wolter@wisconsin.gov)