Buried in these complex equations is information that could help improve walleye fishing on Lake Vermilion, or Cass, or any of Minnesota's other major walleye waters. It's the job of Pereira, a DNR fisheries research scientist, to find that information and make sense of it. Pereira and the DNR's other 22 fisheries research scientists spend their days figuring out how to make fish management more effective and more efficient. They're like guides who assist fisheries managers through the obstacles of scientific unknowns. Fisheries researchers' work is closely related to that done by corporate research scientists.
Companies rely on research to produce the most effective products for the lowest possible cost.
For example, product and marketing research are responsible for graphite fishing rods, depthfinders, and hundreds of other items available to make fishing easier and more productive. The same holds true in the fisheries management business. Larger muskies Muskie anglers are one group reaping the benefits of fisheries research, says Jack Wingate, DNR fisheries research manager. The fisheries research scientist learned that the Leech Lake strain of muskie survived better and grew larger than other strains. In the 1980s, as northwest regional fisheries manager, Strand used this information to direct new stockings of the Leech Lake strain of muskies to waters where the fish had the best chance of thriving.