Climate Connection – Citizens’ Climate Lobby
When I was 5 years old, my 16-year-old brother taught me how to fish. I have enjoyed fishing nearly all my life. Like most other fishers, I enjoy catching coolwater sportfish, such as walleyes, far more than catching warmwater non-sportfish, such as channel catfish. But over the past 21 years that I have fished from the end of my dock, the fishing of Lake DuBay has gradually shifted from mostly coolwater sportfish to mostly warmwater non-sportfish. In the late 1990s, I caught mostly walleyes during my favorite fishing months, May and June. In recent years, there has been a significant change, in May and June, away from mostly walleyes to warmwater species like channel catfish, rock bass, and carp. I have not changed my fishing methods, such as fishing depth, bait, location, etc., but global warming has significantly changed my results.
My grandchildren love to fish when they visit us from their home in Minnesota. I had no grandchildren when Lake DuBay was a coolwater fishery. I wish so much that they could enjoy the consistently great walleye fishing I had 20 years ago that is gone today primarily due to the warming of Lake DuBay.
I also enjoy stream fishing for a native fish of Wisconsin, the brook trout. Over a period of decades, many streams that supported "brookies" (as we fondly call these beautiful fish) are struggling to support their populations. A number of factors have contributed to the decline of brookies in Wisconsin, including water pollution, overexploitation of groundwater causing extreme changes in stream water levels, and global warming. Scientific studies have estimated that many or most brook trout streams in Wisconsin will no longer support brookies by 2100. In fact, the worst of three possible scenarios in those studies estimates that over 99% of brook trout streams will lose their brook trout by 2100 primarily due to global warming.
Brook trout are most vulnerable to warming stream temperatures during spawning. Their eggs and embryos require cool water temperatures that, over decades, are gradually disappearing in many Wisconsin streams. If native brook trout disappear from Wisconsin streams this century, it will a great loss to current and future generations of fishers who admire their incredible beauty.
Ned Grossnickle
Wausau, WI
6th Congressional District