The Quebec government announced today, that the walleye management plan will be renewed for a 10-year period, from 2016 to 2026, with changes in fishing zones 13, 16, 17 and 22.
In zone 13, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the minimal length of 32 cm is replaced by a range of managed size between 32 and 47 cm in order to optimise the management of this species and harmonize the regulation amongst similar fishing zones. Starting this year, recreational fishers will be allowed to keep walleye from 32 to 47 cm long only.
In the fishing zones 16, 17 and 22, in the Nord-du-Québec region, the minimal length of 32 cm is replaced by a range of managed size between 37 and 53 cm with the possibility of keeping one walleye greater than 53 cm long. The aim of these regulatory changes is to maintain high quality sport fishing.
No length limit applies to sauger. The population of this species is doing well and no regulation or special protection is required.
In order to differentiate walleye from sauger and to determine total length of the fishes caught, fishes must be transported in one of those different presentation types: whole fish gutted head on or butterfly fillets. These regulatory changes may require the acquisition of new skills from fishers, therefore, the MFFP put videos online to show how to distinguish walleye from sauger and how to prepare butterfly fillets.
These videos are accessible at the following address:http://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/faune/
Walleye and lake trout at the réservoir Kipawa: a reality of its own
At the Kipawa reservoir, the allowed length range for the walleye will be from 37 to 53 cm. The Kipawa reservoir is identified as a rapid growth lake, because walleye grows faster there. One must know that walleye over exploitation was observed in this lake over the past years. The walleye caught in this lake are generally smaller, and more frequently released than in the past.
Regarding the lake trout, the new regulation provides a catch and possession limit of only one lake trout of 65 cm long or more.
The Kipawa lake trout population is in critical condition due to over exploitation by recreational fishing and drawdown effect (water level variation) on the survival of eggs. The new modality will allow the release of mature reproducing lake trout.
Other modalities on this species are made by the Ministry and its partners. These include a specific recovery plan over a 15-year period that includes fish stocking every year and efforts to reduce drawdown impacts, reduce the impact of fishing on the resource and improve the survival of released fish.
