ISHPEMING, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Monday evening, the Michigan DNR held a Conversations and Coffee event at Ishpeming Township Hall. The event provided an opportunity for community members to engage directly with staff from the Fisheries Division about its upcoming proposed regulation changes.
“We’re talking about our regulation proposals that we have both in the Upper Peninsula and also one state wide regulation proposal,” said Cory Kovacs, the Lake Superior unit manager for the Fisheries Division. “This is our vetting process for the public, so we can get input and feedback on both these proposals, and as well as anything else that may be going on.”
The session covered a number of regulation changes for Lake Superior lake trout, daily possession limits for burbot, burbot hoop netting practices, lake regulations, and other various fishing proposals. These meetings have changed over the years, with a majority switching to a virtual setting after 2020, leading to lower turnouts.
Kovacs says that holding a meeting like this in the Upper Peninsula is an important opportunity to be more personal and get the chance to meet face to face.
“I don’t think we hear enough from our anglers, we always offer ourselves up as biologists, but at the same time, those are through phone calls and emails,” said Kovacs. “Here, we can shake hands, put a face to a name and also interact with some of our constituents that maybe we don’t hear from that often.”
The meeting was part of an ongoing effort to gather various feedback, before these proposed changes are submitted for consideration to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission in May.
To contact and learn more about the proposed changes, visit michigan.gov/dnr.
