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7/13/2001
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Article/Press
Release
News
from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Experts call
for worldwide sturgeon society
“Ancient species needs global
commitment”
OSHKOSH—Mindful that time’s running out for the world’s sturgeon
population, organizers of an international symposium unfolding in
Oshkosh this week on Monday called on their colleagues to form a
worldwide society dedicated to conserving populations of this
fish. Sturgeon, an ancient family of species which has outlived
the dinosaurs, now face extinction in many places as a result of
human activity.
“There’s a
need and an opportunity now for a worldwide society for the
conservation of sturgeon,” says Ron Bruch, a Department of Natural
Resources senior fisheries biologist and lead organizer of the 4th
International Symposium on Sturgeon. That symposium, held for the
first time on U.S. soil, has drawn 400 scientists, natural
resource managers, aquaculturists and conservation club members to
Oshkosh.
“The
sturgeon population has a need for coordinated management and
coordinated research and there’s a need for scientists to
communicate,” Bruch says. “This is the largest gathering of
sturgeon interests ever assembled, so there’s an opportunity to
launch such an organization at an absolutely critical time in
sturgeon research and management.”Harald Rosenthal, a marine
science professor at Germany’s University of Kiel and organizer of
the previous sturgeon symposium in Piacenza, Italy, told his
colleagues they have an ethical and moral obligation to be
concerned about the fate of the world’s sturgeon stocks, not just
those in their own waters. And they had better act fast.
“It’s not
5 minutes to 12, it’s 12 (o’clock),” Rosenthal says. “Either we
break down the political, bureaucratic and other barriers and
cooperate or we lose the wild stocks of sturgeon.”
Rosenthal,
Bruch, and other members of the steering committee for this
Oshkosh conference—Fred Binkowski, a senior scientist with
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Water Institute and Serge
Doroshov, a professor with the University of
California-Davis—presented symposium attendees Monday with a
proposal calling for the worldwide society and asking for
attendees to submit comments to be discussed later in the week.
The
proposal calls for a World Sturgeon Conservation Society
organization that would not compete with the handful of existing
regional sturgeon conservation organizations, but would be an
umbrella group. Such a group would help bring regional and local
sturgeon conservation groups together to exchange scientific
information, address issues common to the world’s sturgeon
species, harmonize efforts to identify research for the future
about this relatively lightly studied species, and help give
external support to countries with sturgeon stocks in a period of
dramatic social, political and economic changes within those
countries, Rosenthal says.
Such an
organization also would give a home to the symposium, which has
occurred in a different location every four years and has come
about largely through the dedication of one or two individuals,
Rosenthal says. The symposium has grown and it has continued, but
“we do not want to leave it to chance.”
Sturgeon
are one of the oldest animals on Earth, having lurked in the lakes
and rivers of the Northern Hemisphere for the last 100 to 200
million years. There are 24 different species of sturgeon, and
their ranges and populations have shrunk considerably during the
last 200 years as overharvest, pollution, dam-building and other
habitat losses have taken their toll.
The
species are listed as endangered or threatened in many countries
and states, and are perhaps most publicly on the ropes in the
Caspian Sea basin, which supplies 90 percent of the global caviar
trade. Poaching has flourished since the Soviet Union broke up in
the early 1990s, and sturgeon stocks have plummeted.
Bruch said
the organizing committee will be collecting written responses from
participants and will discuss them with the full group Friday, at
the symposium’s concluding session. “We’ll review input on the
merits of such a society and suggestions on organizational
structure,” he says. “We’re anticipating there will be strong
support for the creation of such a society and we are prepared to
move forward using the comments of the participants. “
The
symposium continues through Friday at the Oshkosh Convention
Center, on the shores of Lake Winnebago, which is home to the
largest self-sustaining lake sturgeon population in the Northern
Hemisphere.
Sponsors
of the 4th International Symposium on Sturgeon include
Sturgeon for Tomorrow, the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee Great Lakes WATER Institute, University of
Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, the Menominee Indian Tribe, the
University of California-Davis, and RL&L Environmental Services.
FOR MORE
INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Bruch (920) 414-3059; or Fred Binkowski
(414) 382 1723
Fall turkey
season permits up statewide, but decrease in some units
MADISON—There will be a total of 71,600 permits available
statewide for the 2001 Wisconsin fall turkey hunting season, an
increase from 68,600 permits available for the 2000 fall season.
Although
there was an overall increase in total permits, eight wild turkey
management zones saw a decrease in permits available from the
preliminary permit levels to reduce hunting pressure on hens
following last year’s poor recruitment, and what’s likely to be
another year of low recruitment because of the cold, wet June. The
zones with a decrease in permits from preliminary levels include
zones 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 23.
The
Department of Natural Resources Turkey Advisory Committee sets
final fall turkey permit levels after considering hunter
interference rates, previous fall permit levels, recent spring
harvest levels, and predicted spring turkey production, explains
Nancy Frost, assistant DNR upland wildlife ecologist. After
considering all these objectives, the committee decided to
slightly reduce the number of permits this fall from the
preliminary numbers set this past winter, Frost said.
The final
2001 spring turkey harvest total was 39,161, with a 26 percent
hunter success rate. Adult gobblers made up about 80 percent of
this spring’s harvest, higher than normal.
“This
increase in adult gobbler kills may be due to the
lower-than-average recruitment last year from poor weather
conditions,” Frost said. “An alternative explanation is that adult
toms were abundantly available this spring due to good recruitment
two and three years ago.”
Biologists
believe recruitment also will likely be low this year due to the
wet and cold June. Because of the uncertainty surrounding turkey
recruitment recently, Frost said, the committee felt it was best
to be cautious in setting fall permit levels and in considering
spring season expansions. The turkey committee conservatively
reduced the number of permits available in several of the new
zones in order to reduce hunting pressure on hens.
With this
information and interpretation, the committee also set preliminary
turkey permit levels for the spring 2002 season. Total permits
statewide once again increased, to 156, 240 compared to a spring
2001 permit level of 150,120. In most of the zones, the permit
levels stayed the same as last year’s.
The fall
2001 season runs from Oct. 13 through Nov. 11 for all permit
holders. The deadline for applications for the fall hunt is Aug.
10. The application for the spring 2002 hunt will be available in
October and will be due Dec. 10. Applications and the required $3
permit application sticker may be purchased at all DNR service
centers and ALIS vendors.
FOR MORE
INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Frost - (608) 261-8458
Turkey and
dove publications available
MADISON—New publications on hunting mourning doves and on wild
turkey ecology and management in Wisconsin are now available from
the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“Mourning
Dove Hunting in Wisconsin” stresses ethical safe hunting tactics
and gives a review of mourning dove biology, identification and
hunting regulations, according to Nancy Frost, assistant DNR
upland wildlife ecologist. It’s also available on the DNR Web site
from the home page by clicking on the “outdoor activities” and
then “hunting” links to reach the link: <http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/hunt/dove/>.
Wisconsin’s first dove hunting season begins Sept. 1 and ends Oct.
30. The daily bag limit is 15 and the possession limit is 30.
“Wild
Turkey Ecology and Management in Wisconsin” is a 44-page book
compiled by DNR turkey researchers that encompasses the first 25
years of turkey restoration, management, research and hunting in
Wisconsin. This book is a valuable reference for anyone interested
in turkeys in Wisconsin.
FOR MORE
INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Frost - (608) 261-8458. |
