Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Michigan Sturgeon Protected and Exempt from Absurd Regulations Act” or as the “Michigan SPEAR Act”.
Michigan Sturgeon Protected and Exempt from Absurd Regulations Act
A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to exclude certain populations of the lake sturgeon from the authority of such Act.
Sec. 2 Exclusion of certain populations of lake sturgeon under Endangered Species Act of 1973
Findings— Congress finds the following:
The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) has a unique significance for the culture, communities, and people of Michigan, and especially for those near Black Lake in Northern Michigan.
Conservation of sturgeon in Michigan has been a tremendous success story, with the population of adult lake sturgeon statewide rapidly increasing and more than doubling in the last 20 years in Black Lake.
The Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians have deep cultural ties and treaty-protected rights to sturgeon fishing, and have been strong partners in co-management of sturgeon populations with the State of Michigan.
Local anglers play a key role in lake sturgeon conservation in Michigan, including hundreds of volunteers in the “Sturgeon Guard” patrolling spawning areas to ward off poachers each year.
The spearing season is a cultural event in Northern Michigan, with hundreds of anglers and other visitors attending the “Black Lake Sturgeon Shivaree” to celebrate and raise money for lake sturgeon recovery, protection, hatcheries, research, habitat conservation, and outreach programs.
Upending this longstanding tradition through a Federal Endangered Species Act designation is unnecessary given the success of current management in Michigan, will greatly diminish the local buy-in for conservation efforts, and will sever an important cultural mainstay for both State and tribal communities.
Exclusion from listing— Section 4(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(a)) is amended—
in paragraph (1), by striking “The Secretary shall by regulation” and inserting “Except as provided in paragraph (4), the Secretary shall by regulation”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(4) Applicability to lake sturgeon—The Secretary may not make a determination under this subsection that any population of the lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in Michigan is threatened or endangered.”