Priority Species: Manitoba Lakes Perch, Pike, Walleye, Whitefish
Scientific name: Perca flavescens, Esox lucius, Sander vitreus, Coregonus clupeaformis
Photo: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, A net full of walleye CC BY-ND 2.0
Photo: Kurtis Hayne, Manitoba fisheries
Photo: Scott Wallace, Manitoba Perch
Photo: Scott Wallace, Manitoba Lake Whitefish
Photo: Scott Wallace, Manitoba Common Carp
Photo: Scott Wallace, Manitoba fisheries - totes
Photo: Scott Wallace, Manitoba fisheries - processing
DFO Stock Status: N/A
COSEWIC: not listed
Seafood Watch (Perch, Pike, Walleye, Whitefish)
Ocean Wise (Yellow Perch, Northern pike, Walleye, Lake whitefish)
MSC – Waterhen Lake walleye and Northern pike commercial gillnet fishery
Manitoba is a large producer of fish, spread over dozens of lakes. Sustainability is hampered by a lack of assessment and enforcement. Most of the lakes suffer from a lack of even the most basic information about fish stock status. In larger lakes with some index of population health, the management system has not been set up to adjust for allowable catch limits or to reflect population levels.
For example, Lake Winnipeg has a fixed quota that doesn’t change in accordance with the fish population being harvested. Additionally, three species of fish are managed under one quota, which can lead to a wasteful practice called high-grading whereby lower value species are thrown back dead or dying, to allow fishers to keep more of the more valuable species.
Population: Catch monitoring needs to improve, and high-grading2 needs to be addressed.
Bycatch: N/A
Habitat: N/A
Management/Monitoring: Improving the management of Manitoba’s fisheries requires a long-term incremental approach. The current Manitoba government is committed to improved management, with several initiatives underway to improve catch monitoring and to better understand the health of populations at a lake-by-lake level. While one lake has already achieved eco-certification through the Marine Stewardship Council, several others recently announced that they have entered the MSC process. SeaChoice will continue to work with the Fisheries Branch and the seafood supply chain to push for further improvements.
Markets: In addition to addressing the fishery management issues identified above, SeaChoice is working with major retailers and other buyers of these species to encourage better sustainability practices through market measures, such as preferential purchasing from responsible producers.
Meeting with Lake Winnipeg Fishers on Revising Lake Winnipeg Fisheries Management – A Report to the Manitoba Minister of Sustainable Development
Common/Market Name
Yellow perch, Northern pike, Walleye, Lake whitefish
Distribution
Several Manitoba lakes including: Lake Winnipeg, Lake Winnipegosis, Lake Manitoba, Swan Lake, Cedar Lake, Moose Lake,Talbot Lake, William Lakes, Little Limestone Lake, Clearwater / Bracken Lake, Chitek Lake, Inland Lake, and Waterhen Lake
Harvest Method
Gear types: Primarily gillnet
Management Agency
Province of Manitoba, Sustainable Development, Fisheries Branch
Market Distribution
At least 75 per cent of perch, 64 per cent of whitefish, 26 per cent of walleye and 20 per cent of pike is exported, with the U.S. being the main export market (data from DFO)
