THE ISSUE: The state of Michigan has proposed expanded use of gill nets in popular Great Lakes fishing areas.
- A proposed update to the Great Lakes Consent Decree will allow a massive expansion of millions of feet of gill nets.
- Gill nets are lethal. They’re like fences on the lake bottom that entangle fish, usually by the gills.
- About 70% of gillnet catch dies; nontarget fish like sturgeon are usually incidentally killed.
THE RISK: Our Great Lakes recreational and commercial fisheries will likely collapse.
- Expanded gillnet use will devastate Great Lakes fish populations.
- It’s likely that whitefish will collapse, lake trout will fail to fully recover, and sturgeon will become endangered.
- We’ve seen it before — when Great Lakes fisheries decline it hurts tourism, our economy, jobs, and our heritage.
ACT NOW: The future of our Great Lakes fishery depends on you. A decision could be made by May 2023 – please contact Michigan state leaders today.
- Send emails to:
- Governor Whitmer: Contact Page
- Shannon Lott, Director, DNR: lotts1@michigan.gov
- Natural Resource Commission: NRC@michigan.gov
- Attorney General: miag@michigan.gov
- What to say — you’re free to copy/paste the following language into your emails. Adding personal reasons why this is important to you is encouraged:
- I urge you to please STOP EXPANSION OF GILL NETS in the proposed Great Lakes Consent Decree. Don’t let history repeat itself. From the late 1970s until 2000 Michigan experienced an unsustainable era of gillnet fishing. The state has since spent millions removing gill nets from the lakes and trying to heal the damage. Now proposed updates to the Great Lakes Consent Decree will undo that public investment and decimate our fishery — a public resource the state of Michigan is charged with protecting. Any changes to the Great Lakes Consent Decree should focus on resource sustainability, and species recovery should be a priority. Save our fish, stop the gill nets.
MISSION STATEMENT: The Coalition to Protect Michigan Resources is serious about protecting sport fishing on the Great Lakes, its tributaries, inland lakes and waterways. Our mission is to work with the US Government, Tribes and the State of Michigan as an “amicus curiae” in the federal court case governing Tribal fishing rights in the 1836 Treaty areas. Many of our members were involved with negotiations that resulted in the 1985 Consent Agreement, the 2000 Consent Decree governing the Great Lakes and the 2007 Inland Consent Decree.
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