ST. PAUL — A Minnesota agency assured anglers Monday there will be an ice fishing season for walleye on Mille Lacs Lake.

The Department of Natural Resources decision is a dose of good news for area resorts, restaurants and other fishing-dependent businesses that suffered from the early end to the open-water walleye season.

“This decision allows anglers and businesses to look forward to some harvest opportunity during the upcoming winter angling season that begins Dec. 1,” said DNR fisheries chief Don Pereira.

The DNR said state and American Indian tribal biologists agreed on a 5,000-pound winter walleye harvest, which is up from the 3,100 pounds a year ago. The per-angler quotas and other aspects of the season will be announced the last week of October.

Officials have struggled to balance the importance of walleye fishing on the Mille Lacs’ economy with steps they’re taking to reverse a long-term decline in the species’ population. DNR biologists said walleye counts are at a 30-year low, but they point to a strong 2013 class of walleye as a reason for optimism.