In the spring of 2009, bowfishing associations in Minnesota successfully lobbied the MN DNR to open all rivers, streams, and backwaters in the state of Minnesota to night bowfishing.

This article has been written to demonstrate that this law critically endangers Minnesota Populations of Cycleptus elongatus, the Great Blue Sucker.

Night bowfishing has an unforeseen and dire impact on Species in Greatest Conservation Need, which threatens them with extinction in a short few years.  Citations of scientific publications below will illustrate the magnitude of this threat.  Nocturnal bowfishers, under current law, are able to target the Blue Sucker, cycleptus elongatus, by driving light-equipped bowfishing craft onto their spawning grounds and shooting the large, reproductively active adults with archery equipment, at night, for recreational purposes.  During two days in 2009, a single nocturnal bowfisher in another state reported, with supporting photographs, killing nine adult female blue suckers.  The shooter then bragged of his exploits on the website of a bowfishing equipment company.  These large fish likely averaged 25 years old, and therefore represented over 200 years worth of growth and recovery for this imperiled species.  Recovery of this species from the brink of extinction in Minnesota is considered a grand success story.  This recovery effort could now being undone.  

The blue sucker is a highly migratory species whose reproductive habits are poorly understood (Bednarski et al, 2004).  Populations of Blue Suckers have declined precipitously in the recent past (Becker 1983) and the fish has been accorded threatened or endangered status throughout much of its range.  In Wisconsin, which contains the largest remaining blue sucker population (Wisconsin DNR publication ER-091), it is a Threatened species for which no harvest is allowed.  In Minnesota, it is a Species of Special Concern.   Juvenile blue suckers have rarely been seen or captured, indicating that the population is senescent (comprised of old, mature specimens with poor reproductive success) (Hand and Jackson 2003, Morey and Berry 2003).  Blue suckers can live to over 37 years old (Bednarski et al, 2004).  Biologists have determined that Blue Sucker populations exist only because of their long life span and low annual mortality (Bednarski et al, 2004), so any increase in mortality will threaten the species with extirpation.  Minnesota DNR has no population estimate for this species, so even a very modest harvest mortality rate may negatively impact the entire spawner-age biomass, owing to the blue sucker's tendency to migrate hundreds of miles to very small spawning areas during spring freshets (Bednarski et al, 2004).  Commercial taking of blue suckers is already banned in Minnesota, to protect the fragile population, but according to the current laws, this and other special concern species may be killed in unlimited numbers by night bowfishers operating on our state's rivers and river backwaters.  This activity must be prevented from destroying the Great Blue Sucker of Minnesota.

This article was created in response to the shooting of blue sucker, Cycleptus elongatus at night, but other species of a similar status may also be affected, including the Black Redhorse, Greater Redhorse, River Redhorse, and Black Buffalo.  At night, in turbid water, it is impossible for a bowfisher to determine which species a given fish belongs to until after it has already been killed.  Therefore, simply closing these species to harvest, or creating bag limits, cannot protect them from overharvest by bowfishers.  However, bag limits and seasonal closures could be critical to prevent unlimited harvest by other means, such as angling, spearing, and dipnetting. 

Until such time as the unlimited harvest is determined through scientific research to be sustainable, we think unlimited harvest of this species should be stopped. We feel there is ample evidence that this activity is threatening the continued existence of sensitive native species.  The evidence that existing populations can withstand such unregulated harvest is completely absent.  In addition to this bowfishing closure on rivers where this and other imperiled species may be found, we also recommend that strict bag limits be placed on these species, and that all harvest of these species during their critical spawning period be prohibited.  Unlimited kill of the mature, spawning blue suckers could easily cause these fish to become extirpated in a scant few years, and it is the duty of the Minnesota DNR, as servants of the public and stewards of it's wild species, to follow Wisconsin's lead and immediately take action to protect this valuable resource from excessive harvest.