Milestones in Winnebago sturgeon management

Timeline created by esdj09 in Science and Technology

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Event Date:	Event Title:	Event Description:
01/01/1903	WI starts sturgeon management program	Due to growing concerns about overharvest of lake sturgeon, Wisconsin's starts managing the Winnebago System sturgeon population with a regulations that closes the spearing season fro March 1 through May 25. Photo credit: Wisconsin Historical Society, WHi ID 24511 from "People of the Sturgeon."
01/01/1915	Sturgeon harvest banned in the state	Dwindling numbers of sturgeon due to overharvest, dams and pollution led Wisconsin to close the Winnebago season.
02/01/1932	Spearing season reopens	Wisconsin's legislature reopens the sturgeon spearing season as an economic relief measure during the Great Depression. The first regulated spearing season under this law was held on Lake Winnebago, Jan. 1 to March 1. There was a 30-inch minimum size limit, 5 bag limit per person per season, tags were $.05 each and a fishing license was required.
01/01/1941	First assessment conducted on the sturgeon spearing harvest	Wisconsin Conservation Department fish biologists Edward "Doc" Schneberger and Lowell Woodbury conduct the first fish assessment on the sturgeon spearing harvest. Schneberger later became the Wisconsin Conservation Department's first Chief of Fisheries.
01/01/1953	Sturgeon studies spur extensive rule changes	Winnebago sturgeon studies in the 1950s were used to set the first round of extensive rule changes in the late 1950s and early 1060s. . (DNR photo
01/01/1955	1st year of mandatory harvest registration	All spearers were required to register the sturgeon they speared so DNR could get a better handle on how many fish are harvested every year and also to calculate population estimates.
01/01/1977	First successful efforts to propagate lake sturgeon	First successful efforts to articifically propagate lake sturgeon conducted by Don Czeskleba at DNR's Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery and Fred Binkowski at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Great Lakes Studies.
02/03/1977	Sturgeon for Tomorrow founded	Sturgeon for Tomorrow founded by spearers and eventually becomes a five-chapter private sturgeon conservation organization that has contributed more than $750,000 to sturgeon efforts. Photo: Original founders of Sturgeon for omorrow L-R: Mary Lou Schneider, Gloria Groeschel, Dan Groeschel, Betty Lemke, Lloyd Lemke, Kathy Casper, Bill Casper (Bob Rashid photo)
02/03/1990	Passing of the management torch	Dan Folz, left, known as the father of WI's modern sturgeon management program on the Winnebago, retired in 1989 and was replaced by Ron Bruch, Folz's one-time intern. Wisconsin's program has become a national and world-wide model for successful sturgeon management under Bruch's leadership. Pat Durkin photo
01/01/1992	Citizens Advisory Committee established	The Winnebago Citizens Stgeon Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives of 30 sturgeon spearing and conservation organizations from the Winnebago region, established to work with DNR fisheries and law enforcement staff to develop and implement regulations and management actions.
02/01/1999	New harvest cap system controls harvest numbers	Harvest cap system instituted following record harvest levels in mid 1990s that raised concerns about vulnerable female adults. Under the rule, the season is closed 24 hours after reaching 80% of the total allowable annual harvest of adult females, juvenile females or males.
02/03/2002	Rehabilitation of sturgeon in the Upper Fox River	Rehabilitation of sturgeon in the Upper Fox River -- a 25-year project -- is launched by DNR, UW-Milwaukee Great Lakes Water Institute and Sturgeon for Tomorrow. Photo: Fingerling sturgeon ready to stock in the upper Fox River. (Ron Bruch photo)
02/11/2012	Record number of spearers set for 2012	A record 12,680 people bought licenses to spear in the 2012 season, a reflection of the growing popularity. so come Feb. 11, they'll be holed up in their shanties, peering down through the green glow and hoping for a lake sturgeon to come into view.