DETROIT _ Michigan anglers may get some stiff fishing competition with new legislation that could allow commercial fishers to cast a wider net.
Right now, only Michigan's recreational fishers can legally catch most game fish, which include sunfish, walleye, lake trout and more.
Commercial fishers, who harvest fish to sell wholesale or to stock their own fish markets, are allowed to catch only one type of game fish, perch, from Saginaw Bay.
A pair of bills being weighed by the state Legislature would allow Michigan's commercial access 10% of the state's catchable lake trout and 20% of walleye, based on quotas from the Department of Natural Resources.
Proponents of the bills say the industry operates under outdated rules set nearly 40 years ago. The population of sport fish since has grown so much that it threatens the one species _ perch _ that the industry is allowed to harvest.
Commercial fishers also are accidentally catching lake trout or walleye they can't legally keep, and are throwing fish back into the lakes by the thousands, said Scott Everett, legislative director for the Michigan Fish Producers Association.
"When these lake trout are brought up in these trap nets ... the lake trout die anyway," Everett said.
Critics contend the change could drive down bag limits for sport anglers and lower fish populations in the Great Lakes, dealing a significant blow to Michigan's recreational fishing industry.
"When we start dipping into those sport fish quotas, what the economic impact is, we don't know," said Nick Green, public information officer for Michigan United Conservation Clubs. "It could be very substantial when you start looking at the percent that commercial anglers are asking to be able to harvest."
