NEGAUNEE TOWNSHIP -- As the weather warms, the Department of Natural Resources is reminding anglers to get ready to take down their ice shanties.

The date for ice shanty removal in the Upper Peninsula is midnight on March 31; unless the shanty is located on a Michigan-Wisconsin boundary water, the date for those shanties is March 15. However, with the warm-up in the forecast, anglers should remove their shanties as soon as the ice is unsafe.

"This is really about angler safety. We don't want anybody to get into a life threatening situation or a safety situation; however, it's also about litter. We don't want stuff that's in a typical ice shanty to end up on the bottom of a lake," said Debbi Munson Badini of the DNR.

Anglers are responsible for their shanties, and there are stiff penalties for owners who allow their structures to fall through the ice, including up to 30 days in jail and fines of up to $500.