Fishing pressure on many Minnesota lakes and streams has increased to the level that it is oftentimes detrimental to fishing quality if not to the fisheries resource. To prevent further overexploitation of the aquatic resource, to try to preserve fishing quality, and to protect the aquatic environment, more applied research is needed.

The main function of fisheries research in Minnesota is to provide fish managers more effective and/or efficient ways to manage aquatic resources. Input from all fish managers, supervisors, administrators and biologists has been solicited on areas or topics where research is needed to solve specific management problems or to find better techniques. The major areas of research emphasis in Minnesota for the near-term (approximately one decade) will be:

• Regulations – fine tuning existing regulations, increase understanding of angler dynamics and response to regulations and fishery attributes
• Stocking – effects on other species, develop new and more efficient strategies, and guidelines consistent with sound biology (study in development)
• Watersheds – holistic approaches to fish management, develop long-term monitoring programs to effectively identify, understand habitat stressors and future climate change
• Habitat – evaluate new techniques, role of aquatic macrophytes in fisheries, understand cumulative impacts, effects and forecasts of climate change, assist with statewide habitat planning, and provide technical support for large scale projects such as those under the National Fish Habitat Partnership program
• Climate Change – support research that will forecast changes to sport fisheries due to future climate change, including vulnerability assessment and work that will help inform adaptation of fisheries management programs
• Population Assessment – evaluate and standardize assessment tools, improve estimates of vital rates, improve assessments of black bass populations, and develop and implement advance stock assessment models
• Community Interactions – lake and stream community dynamics including bio energetics
• Human Dimensions and Socioeconomic – value, attitudes, regulation effects; provide outreach from University researchers to DNR Fisheries staff
• Long-term monitoring – modeling and synthesis of long term data sets, including the ten large walleye lakes and also the statewide sentinel lakes program
• Lake Superior – filling information voids, vulnerability assessments for salmonids using North Shore streams
• Wetlands – effects of fish rearing, bio-manipulation.

The fisheries research program is problem oriented and is directed at meeting the needs of management on a priority basis. The work is accomplished by up to 11 research scientists and up to 11 fisheries biologists stationed at 11 strategic locations throughout the state. These biologists are supervised by three Research Supervisors under the direction of the Research Manager.

Examples of research activities in the last eight years that have been utilized by management include:

• Evaluation of the recovery of Red Lake using fry stocking with oxytetracycline (OTC) marks, with the lake reopened to fishing in May 2006;
• Success with the OTC technology has motivated a new study that will extend our understanding of walleye recruitment dynamics in large natural lakes;
• Angling regulations – bag limits have been reduced on some species and some regulations, such as walleye minimum size limits, are no longer being considered;
• Walleye stocking strategies – used to develop new stocking strategies to enhance walleye populations; this research has motivated a new study to evaluate the use of small fingerlings as a new strategy;
• Development of lake IBIs – being used by the State Pollution Control Agency to measure degredation in Minnesota lakes;
• Oviduct transmitters in northern pike and muskellunge – being used to protect spawning/nursery areas;
• Sonic transmitters – used in cisco, walley and northern pike and muskellunge to monitor behavioral response to water temperature and dissolved oxygen;
• Lake Superior bio-energetics model – being used in the development of the new 10 year management plan;
• Relationship between aquatic macrophytes and associated fish communities – information being used in developing new shoreland regulations;
• Stream classification system –being used in the new stream survey manual;
• Using gill nets to estimate northern pike abundance –being used in treaty harvest lakes to set safe harvest levels; and
• Walleye spawning reefs in streams –managers are using the developed information to build new or enhance existing reefs.

This project covers all aspects associated with administering, raising, and distributing cold-water, cool-water and warm-water fish into Minnesota lakes and streams.

Minnesota, also known as the “land of 10,000 lakes”, offers great angling opportunities.  Over 1.5 million state residents and nonresidents, 16 years and older, fished in Minnesota during 2006.  Anglers fished a total of 25 million angler days, which comes out to an average of 17 days per angler.  Anglers, 16 years and older spent over $2.8 billion on fishing expenses in Minnesota in 2006 (United States Department of Interior 2006).  Minnesota ranks third in the country for angler days provided and third in angling expenditures spent nationwide in 2006 (Southwick Associates 2007).

 Maintaining Minnesota’s great angling opportunities requires various types of management actions and operations.  One of the tools used to maintain, expand, and enhance fishery populations is stocking. The reasons for fish stocking are angler exploitation, habitat degradation, reduced abundance of native species, the ability of the resource to sustain the fishery, reintroductions and supplementing current populations (MN DNR 1993, 1994).  Stocking is also needed to provide a fishery where species do not reproduce or are not found, such as salmonids in the coldwater lakes of northern Minnesota and in many streams in central and northern Minnesota. Stocking also maintains special fisheries for kids, elderly, and disabled anglers throughout Minnesota (Jacobson et al. 1999). Many groups, such as legislators, Trout Unlimited, Muskie Inc., and Walleye Alliance, support stocking.  However, some groups and individuals would rather see the DNR rely more on natural reproduction.  Minnesota recently received additional funding through a new walleye stamp and the proceeds are to be used for stocking and related activities.

Minnesota owns and operates five coldwater, three cool-/warmwater year-round, and 10 seasonal coolwater fish hatcheries with rearing capability.  Maintenance of hatchery facilities, rearing ponds, raceways, and the fish transportation (fleet) to ensure reliable production and stocking of fish requested by Area Fisheries Supervisors is required to meet our goal of a quality product. 

Fish health has become increasingly important in the recent years with the discovery of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in the great lakes region.  To produce healthy fish and reduce the risk of disease and invasive species movement or introduction, it is essential to have a functioning pathology lab, surveillance and testing protocol and staff that are trained in the most up to date techniques.  Without this, the state runs the risk of jeopardizing fisheries, lose the ability to administer and carry out laws and regulations pertaining to the movement of fish within the state as well as export out of the state, and lose diagnostic services and expertise of disease treatments to the state and private hatcheries.  

The state is charged with utilizing state time and resources effectively and to accurately reflect how those resources have been spent (Minnesota statute 84.027 subd. 14).  The federal government also relies on staff to do the same for federal funds.  Therefore it is important to ensure that staff have the tools to do this efficiently.  By updating our fish disposition database, it will allow us to plan and track fish production and stocking efforts and to be able to report these expenditures to the USFWS, legislature, public, and state appointed advisory groups.