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DELTA COUNTY -- U.P. agencies are working to restore the Bays de Noc as the walleye capital of the world.  Officials say the walleye population in the Bays has dropped about two-thirds since the '90s due to environmental issues and illegal commercial fishing.

But now the group has big plans to put fish back into the waters...sooner than you think.

Their current rearing pond has about 350,000 walleye fry swimming about.  They're about a quarter inch long, and officials say close to 90 percent of them will be put into Little Bay de Noc in a few weeks.  However, only about 10 percent will reach maturity.

"At about an inch and three-quarters to two inches; they'll be transferred into Little Bay de Noc," explained retired DNRE biologist, Jerry Peterson.  "In, oh perhaps three years a number of fish will reach maturity."

But this is just one step of many to restore the walleye population.  The project is put on by the Chamber of Commerce, Bay de Noc Great Lakes Sports Fishermen Association, local tribes, along with the DNRE, and they're picking up local governmental support as well.

Recently, the group received a $10,000 grant from the Hannahville Indian Community, which officials say will cover about half of phase two of the project which will bring in even more fish into the Bays.

"Phase two involves the purchase of advanced fingerlings that are probably 7-10 inches that'll be stocked into the Bays de Noc in the fall of this year.   We're shooting for 10,000," said Association attorney, Paul Strom.

And officials say the project won't end there.

"We're striving for this fall, but it's going to be a continuous, yearly, annual planting process," Strom explained.  "It takes thousands of fish to reach natural reproduction, and this is just the beginning process that'll last, that's going to continue."