OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – As sturgeon spearers prepare to catch their pre-historic fish, the Wisconsin DNR is announcing some changes to this year’s process.
The 2021 season on the Winnebago system begins February 13th and runs a maximum of 16 days or until any pre-determined harvest caps are met.
However, the upcoming season will see a contactless registration process at registration stations. The DNR says to ensure the safety for the public and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, all DNR registration stations are now drive-thru only.
“We are relocating our registration stations to lower traffic areas such as municipal building parking lots, boat landing parking lots, and city parks,” said DNR Sturgeon Biologist Ryan Koenigs. “Spearers will remain in their vehicle at all times and DNR staff will remove the fish from the vehicle, collect the critical biological data that we need from that individual fish, replace the metal registration tag on the fish at the end of the process, and we will return that fish.”
This year will see six registration stations on Lake Winnebago and three on the upper lakes. Many of those new locations are right across the road or within a mile of prior registration sites.
“The goal, at least at our registration sites, is to promote limiting the gathering of people,” said DNR Fisheries Management Bureau Director, Justine Hasz. “We will be reminding the spearers out there that should be safe themselves. Not only at our registration sites, but to be safe themselves with the parties and groups that they normally spend time with…The goal is to just have everyone have a safe season.”
“We are committed to returning registration stations to local businesses when it’s safe to do so. The change in process this year is not our long range plan, we’re just taking this measure this year to be able to ensure that we can collect the data and we can collect it safely,” Koenigs said. “There will be a series of cones set up that will have information for the spearer on how the process is going to work, particularly directing them to have the fish easily accessible for our staff to remove from the vehicle when it’s their turn to register the fish.”
To help with the new registration process, the DNR is asking spearers to remain in their vehicles throughout the registration process. They say the change helps biologists collect the critical data necessary to effectively manage the Winnebago system sturgeon fishery while keeping spearers, spectators and staff safe.
“In a normal year, the spearer is bringing the fish to our station and then we collect the data. This year, we’re gonna have to walk over to the vehicle, grab the fish, then collect the data. But I don’t envision that it’s going to slow us down much if at all,” Koenigs said. “To be able to manage this fishery, particularly with the sex specific harvest caps, we need to be able collect biological data from each individual fish and we need to be able to do that safely. This is a process that allows us to do both.”
Data collected from harvested fish help implement the harvest cap system and set caps for future seasons.
Meanwhile, the 2021 season will also be the first year where spear size and tine arrangement will be restricted. A new regulation limits the maximum spearhead width to 18 inches, and tines can only be arranged in a single plane. Additional information can be found in the 2021 sturgeon spearing regulations.
However, the 2021 season will continue to allow the use of underwater cameras and other technology. This has been an issue that the DNR has addressed in numerous surveys, asking whether fishermen and spearers support using underwater systems. Koenigs says those surveys help guide the agency’s decision-making process.
“The two factors that have the greatest impact on spearing success and how the season are gonna goal is water clarity and ice conditions it’s too early to tell exactly what those conditions are at this time those conditions are unknown,” Koenigs said.
Monitoring of those conditions will continue throughout January, and additional briefings and releases from the DNR will come as the season approaches.
Home to one of the world’s largest, self-sustaining lake sturgeon populations, Wisconsin’s Winnebago system has an estimated 42,000 adult lake sturgeon. Approximately 12,200 sturgeon spearing licenses were sold for the 2021 season. Harvest caps for the 2021 Winnebago system spearing season are set at 430 juvenile females, 950 adult females and 1,200 males.
The deadline to apply for an Upriver Lakes sturgeon spearing permit was Aug. 1, 2020. Spearing licenses for the fishery on Lake Winnebago needed to be purchased before Oct. 31, 2020.
Spearers must carry a paper copy of their sturgeon spearing license while spearing. A receipt of purchase, driver’s license or GoWild card will not be accepted as proof of a spearing license. Any harvested sturgeon must be presented by the spearer at a DNR-operated registration station by 2 p.m. on the day the fish was speared.
More information on the 2021 Winnebago system sturgeon spearing season is available here. Learn more about the DNR’s response to COVID-19 here.
For specific information regarding COVID-19, we encourage the public to frequently monitor the DHS website for updates, and to follow @DHSWI on Facebook and Twitter, or dhs.wi on Instagram. Additional information can be found on the CDC website.
