By Gene Kemmeter

The future for Wisconsin fish appears gloomy. Two researchers who worked together at the University of Wisconsin-Madison issued a report in the journal Nature Climate Change last week predicting that double the number of fish will die off in state lakes by 2050.

Considering that the state of Wisconsin boasts economic activity of $2.3 billion related to fishing, with $1.4 billion in annual direct expenditures for fishing trip-related equipment and 1.25 million fishing licenses sold, that could have a large financial impact on the state.

Andrew Rypel, who formerly worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and Samuel Fey predicted a difficult future for common freshwater fish such as bluegill, walleye, largemouth bass and northern pike, as the die-off continues to increase to quadruple the number by the end of the century.

Rypel and Fey utilized information that contained simulated water temperature data from more than 10,000 Midwest lakes and the Wisconsin DNR’s large database on fish kills in Wisconsin between 2004 and 2014 which included the water temperature information. Using the data, the researchers could determine the relationship between water temperatures and fish kills.

They said they expected fish kills would decline in winter because winters were becoming less severe. But that was opposite the facts because warmer lake temperatures resulted in increased fish kills. They found that less than a three-degree change in temperature could affect fish, a cold-blooded organism, much like a three-degree fever can cause people to function differently.

Warming temperatures and changing ecological conditions can force marine fish or migratory birds to move north, while freshwater fish are landlocked, which means that natural resources agencies will have to try to mitigate the changing conditions.

That could mean rehabilitating the habitat instead of restocking fish. Ways to do that include dropping trees from the banks into the water to create shaded, cooler areas along the shoreline, or making fish sticks or fish cribs to place in other locations.

The impacts of this study would be felt worst in northern Wisconsin where a way of life surrounds fishing on the numerous lakes. The economic impact could be devastating to entire regions because their livelihood is connected to the environment.

Yet politicians continue to downplay or ignore the reports of scientists as if the scientists are going to make a fortune from the reports they are compiling. Scientists aren’t going to make a lot of money studying the environment. They do so because they love the subject, and they want to keep people safe.

The climate is important to human life, animal life and plant life. The world has witnessed centuries of degradation of the planet, excavation of minerals to improve the wealth and living conditions of the population, development of chemicals to rid the world of unwanted pests and systematic pollution of the countryside.

Ignoring scientific findings will lead to mounting problems for civilization. The world needs to ignore leaders who perpetuate the myth that nothing is occurring. What’s good for business is that the world needs to take action now to reverse the conditions that are spreading, not ignoring them. Wisconsin without an abundant amount of fish?