Chippewa tribal members are about halfway toward reaching their quota of walleye from Lake Mille Lacs, according to figures updated Tuesday.

Here’s what’s different this year: Nearly every walleye — some 5,700 pounds — killed this year has been by spear, not highly contentious gill nets, according to tribal authorities. The total tribal allotment is 11,400 pounds.

In most years, members of eight Indian bands with treaty rights to the walleye take the bulk of their negotiated allotment via large gill nets, which are stretched across the shallow gravel walleye breeding grounds at night shortly after ice-out. Many around the lake blame the nets for the lake’s falling walleye population, though biologists say it’s not the cause.

But this year, the only nets being set are for “ceremonial harvest” by members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, said Charlie Rasmussen, spokesman for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the tribal take.

Last summer, Mille Lacs band leaders announced they were voluntarily suspending all but ceremonial netting. The announcement came shortly after the state of Minnesota closed walleye fishing after reaching its quota. The other bands essentially donated their portions of the tribal walleye allotment to the Mille Lacs band, so netting was mostly off the table.

“The Wisconsin bands have transferred all or a majority of their portion to the Mille Lacs band,” Rasmussen said. “Ceremonial harvest goes on every year. This year, ceremonial harvest permits by Mille Lacs band members are being issued by the Mille Lacs band. It’s going to be a tiny fraction of the overall quota.”

Ceremonial harvest involves fish taken for a specific event, such as a funeral. Unlike the more standard netting, the spoils of which can be distributed among friends and family, the take from a ceremonial-permit net can only be used for a certain ceremony, Rasmussen said. He declined to release the actual amount of walleye taken by nets until the numbers were provided to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The numbers will become public.

Spearing of walleye is generally done from a boat at night. Gill nets are often the most talked about tactic in Minnesota, but spearing is far more widely used, including the most prevalent non-angling method throughout Wisconsin’s ceded territories.

Nontribal members — the wider Minnesota fishing public — will be allotted 28,600 pounds of walleye, beginning with the May 14 fishing opener. No one will actually be allowed to keep any walleye, but a percentage of fish that are released to the lake die anyway, and the state attempts to estimate that number. State biologists have cautioned resort owners and guides that it’s possible the state will meet its quota this year, and walleye fishing will have to be closed again.