2027 allocations
The 2027 limits set separate catch ceilings for state and tribal fisheries in Wisconsin’s WI-2 management zone, which includes the Apostle Islands. The total allowable catch will be 57,000 lake trout, 15% below the current level, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Wisconsin’s 17,500-fish share is divided into 5,830 for commercial fishers and 11,670 for recreational anglers, a 22% reduction; the tribal allocation will be 39,500, an 11% reduction. In neighboring WI-1, the total remains 14,000: 12,000 for the state, divided between 4,000 commercial and 8,000 recreational fish, and 2,000 for tribes, according to the Journal Sentinel.
How the quota is set
Wisconsin, the Red Cliff Band and the Bad River Band share management of the fishery under the 2018-2028 Lake Superior Fishing Agreement. The agreement provides for dividing commercial harvests and establishes other management terms, according to the Bad River Band’s law library. The Wisconsin DNR says a statistical catch-at-age model is used to set the total allowable catch before it is distributed among the three parties under the agreement.
The Natural Resources Board approved the WI-2 reduction on the DNR’s recommendation, the Journal Sentinel reported. The Lake Superior Commercial Fishing Board and Wisconsin Conservation Congress supported the measure, which passed unanimously. The new limits take effect Nov. 28, 2026, when the 2027 season opens. Quotas are ordinarily updated on a three-year cycle, but DNR fisheries supervisor Brad Ray said they could be reviewed sooner in light of the population decline and sea lamprey levels, according to the Journal Sentinel.
What the assessments show
DNR assessments put the lake trout population at its lowest level in 30 years. Estimates show a decline of about 36% from 2020 to 2025, the Journal Sentinel reported. Wisconsin Public Radio, citing DNR modeling, described a nearly 37% drop, from roughly 835,000 fish to about 530,000. The population’s estimated peak was about 930,000 in 2002, according to the WPR report.
DNR fisheries supervisor Brad Ray identified weak recruitment and greater predation by sea lampreys as key factors. WPR reported that Ray said lake trout mortality had nearly tripled over the previous four years as lamprey numbers increased. The Journal Sentinel reported that pandemic travel restrictions disrupted some chemical treatments in tributaries where lampreys spawn. DNR data cited by the paper showed lake trout wounding rates exceeded twice the target of five wounds per 100 fish in each of 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission estimated that Lake Superior’s sea lamprey population fell from more than 40,000 the prior year to just under 30,000, but remained above the management goal of about 10,000, WPR reported.
Harvest and recovery context
A Wisconsin DNR commercial fishery report recorded a WI-2 harvest of 8,394 lake trout against that year’s quota of 8,500 in 2020. That historical figure is close to the 2020 quota but does not establish recent harvest levels or whether the 2027 commercial allocation of 5,830 fish will constrain catch, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. A 1996 restoration plan said self-sustaining lake trout stocks had returned to many Lake Superior areas, though not to all historical spawning reefs or rivers, according to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
