Congressman Wants Fishing Decree Answers

A US Congressman has sought clarification on a controversial fishing decree Michigan entered into by federal court order last summer. Rep. Jack Bergman, Michigan’s First District, wrote to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requesting “clarification on the State’s opinions and specific plans related to the implementation and enforcement of the 2023 Great Lakes Decree.” Bergman’s office conveyed…

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Coalition appeals Consent Decree entrance

An indiscriminate gill net is not a tool that conservationists want to expand in Michigan waterways.

The Coalition to Protect Michigan’s Resources (CPMR) filed an appeal opposing entrance of the 2023 Great Lakes Consent Decree in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The order to accept the decree, given in August by Judge Paul Maloney, entered the five sovereign Michigan Tribes, United States and the State of Michigan into the decree…

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Great Lakes decree put in place despite stakeholders’ and anglers’ objections

Gill net

A federal judge accepted a proposed consent decree controlling five sovereign Michigan Tribes, the federal government and the state, overruling evidence that expanded gillnetting would negatively impact the Great Lakes. In handing down his order, Judge Paul Maloney rejected the Coalition to Protect Michigan Resource’s claim that biological harm is likely to happen to the…

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Consent Decree: Recreational Anglers Will Not Support New Great Lakes Fishing Deal

Gill net

Conservationists and recreational anglers presented objections to a proposed Consent Decree that would significantly affect Great Lakes fisheries including the sport fishery.  Six of the seven parties had submitted a proposed Great Lakes Consent Decree to the court on December 11, 2022. The Coalition to Protect Michigan Resources (CPMR) sought intervention months earlier when it…

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DNR about-face on gill nets cannot be supported by its own science

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division has a proud, well-deserved legacy of leadership in restoring balanced fish communities to the Great Lakes.  A central element of this legacy was the Department’s recognition that lake trout restoration was all but impossible so long as tens of millions of feet of non-selective, lethal gill nets…

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MDNR Consent Decree Facts Wrong, Grossly Misleading

Recreational fishers may have received an email from the MDNR suggesting that all is well with a new proposed agreement between the State and four out of five tribes with Treaty preserved fishing rights in the northern Great Lakes. These FAQs are either false or grossly misleading. The issues involve how the Great Lakes fishery…

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Possible consequences of proposed Great Lakes Consent Decree

The proposed consent decree fails to address resource limitations and proposes actions that would increase fishing pressure.  Such actions at this time of resource crisis constitute the State of Michigan’s abdication of its Public Trust responsibility to protect fishery resources on behalf of the Citizens of Michigan. They also constitute an abdication of the Tribes’…

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