Transcripts

LEIF ENGER: The DNR used to pride itself on its walleye stocking program. With more than 1,200 lakes on the list, it's the largest such effort in the country. And that fact was highly touted. As more people began fishing, the state developed a costly network of hatcheries like this one in Brainerd. Half science lab, half bait shop. Full of siphons and wide plastic cylinders, each holding half a million fish eggs.

In a state full of walleye lovers, this was the DNR's plum program. Though, for years, research has led biologists to believe most stocking is a waste of time and taxpayers' money. Fisheries biologist Dennis Schupp.

DENNIS SCHUPP: What we're doing is treating a symptom that is beyond solving with just the stocking. And that usually means that something has happened on the watershed to influence spawning success or something has happened to the spawning areas in the lake. Why it was held on this long at this level? That's a good question. I'm not sure I've got a good answer for that.

LEIF ENGER: Schupp says, walleye stocking has been a bigger success politically than biologically. Resorts have attracted customers by advertising their stocked lakes. Lakeshore associations, and sporting clubs embraced the program, and state politicians funded it and took credit for it. Schupp says, the whole question of whether stocking actually worked took a back seat.

DENNIS SCHUPP: There have been administrators who have looked at it and said, well, even though it may not be doing that much good, we get such good publicity out of it that we'll just continue with it.

LEIF ENGER: These are the numbers that have the DNR trying to cut back the program. Of the millions of fry released each spring, the survival rate is 10% at best, and may be as low as 1%. As a result, walleye fishing hasn't been affected in most stocked lakes. Those that were declining continued to decline, with fishing improving in only about one third of the lakes.

Schupp estimates only 4% of all walleye caught by anglers are hatchery fish. Still, the program has wide and steadfast support. Standing on his dock on Pelican Lake, North of Brainerd, Harvey Roggenkamp says stocking has made this lake a hotspot.

HARVEY ROGGENKAMP: Well, yes, we catch walleyes. Lots of walleyes. Last year-- I really shouldn't give out secrets like this. But last year, in the first three days of fishing season, there were seven of us alternating. And in three days, we took 54 walleyes.

LEIF ENGER: Roggenkamp is the longtime president of the Pelican Lake Association, which has periodically contributed to the stocking effort, buying the DNR, a new dock here, a new set of hatching jars there. Because Pelican Lake is spring-fed with no large inlet or outlet, it's not a natural walleye. Lake Roggenkamp agrees that stocking doesn't work everywhere, but says, it does work here. And he fears the new direction the department is taking.

HARVEY ROGGENKAMP: I mean, if it comes to the point where they're gonna try and tell us that it doesn't help, we're all gonna stand up and tell them they're full of prunes, because we know it does help. I don't see how it couldn't help.

LEIF ENGER: Those who believe in stocking have an influential ally in DFL Senator Bob Lessard of International Falls. Lessard chairs the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee and is a fishing guide during the summer.

Like Harvey Roggenkamp, Lessard is critical of the DNR's turnaround on stocking. He says, the program has involved more lakeshore owners in taking care of the resource through cooperative projects. And he says, it's worth supporting, even if most of the hatchery fish never see middle-age.

BOB LESSARD: There's a psychological benefit of bringing people on board and doing it and saying, hey, you know what happened last year? We put 100,000 walleyes in that little lake out there. If you're gonna waste money-- and I don't think it is. If you're gonna waste money, that's a good way to waste it.

LEIF ENGER: The DNR says it has no intention of halting stocking, only of doing it more selectively. In lakes where it's worked well, and not in lakes where walleye can't flourish. That's likely to be unpopular with some lakeshore groups and fishing clubs. But as one DNR official said, in times of tight budgets, a program that only works occasionally is pretty hard to defend. Leif Enger, Main Street Radio, Brainerd.