Ohio walleye quota vs Ontario Canada 2012

This article is by D'Arcy Egan, The Plain Dealer:

Ohio anglers caught a meager 420,000 walleye last year, the lowest total in decades and just 28 percent of the allowable harvest of 1.5 million walleye.

Ontario commercial fishermen and Ohio sport anglers will share 3.5 million walleye this year from a population estimated at 26 million fish.

Ohio anglers will try to catch their share, almost 1.8 million walleye, and it's unlikely they will be able to do it.

As usual, Ontario dedicates its share of walleye to the province's commercial gill netters, who won't have that problem. Gill nets are far more efficient than casting an Erie Dearie or trolling a Reef Runner lure, and Ontario netters aren't about to leave their quotas of valuable walleye unfulfilled.

Last year's miserable weather in spring and early summer were devastating to Ohio's sport fishing industry and the shoreline economy. Fishing guides and everyday anglers sat idle around Western Lake Erie's Walleye Capital of the World, watching storms, big winds and high waves batter the region from March through early June.

By year's end, Ohio anglers had caught a meager 420,000 walleye, the lowest in decades and just 28 percent of the allowable harvest of 1.5 million walleye.

The lack of success buoyed the walleye population just enough -- according to the number crunchers at the Lake Erie Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission -- to save Ohio from cutting this year's summer bag limit of six walleye. The yellow perch bag limit will also stay at 30 fish per day.

Some anglers and even fishing guides and local businesses are again calling for a spring closing of Ohio walleye fishing to boost the population. Lake Erie fisheries head Roger Knight said it won't help.

"Eliminating fishing opportunity won't mean a gain in walleye reproduction," he said. "There are enough female walleye in the lake right now to potentially produce enough eggs for a major hatch."

Environmental problems ranging from a flood of invasive species to a phosphorous overload are the likely culprits for limiting walleye spawning success.

"If we thought shutting down the spring fishing would significantly affect reproduction, we'd already be doing it," Knight said.

Ohio anglers won't be able to make up for last year's bad weather and walleye not caught.
"We've had some great fishing weather and good walleye catches already this year," said Knight. "When the walleye fishing was good over the previous three or four years, though, we'd only been able to catch about 80 percent [of the total allowable catch]."

End of Plain Dealer article.

I beleive the season should be closed during the spawning season. Growing up in Pa, closed seasons absolutely managed wildlife with great results. Its time for ODNR to look past the money raised during the present system and close walleye for a month or so each year. What we are doing is not working, lets at least try something new. How about resisting the Canadian gill netters?