Category Archives: Inland Fisheries

“Thar’s gold in them thar gills!” Why this Peoria fish company wants to come to Pekin

Many central Illinois residents see Asian carp as an invasive species and a hazard to public waterways. But a wholesale and retail fresh water fish processing company sees them as an opportunity and wants to set up a facility in Pekin. Vogel noted that commercial fishermen have been netting carp on the Illinois River for “quite a few years.” While those fishermen have always had access to carp processing plants, he believes Freshwater Solutions proposed Pekin facility can potentially operate on a larger scale. “It’s not just the Asian carp we’re targeting,” he said. “It’s all freshwater species in commercial fishing. What we’re trying to do is build an old industry anew right here in central Illinois.” more, >>click to read<< 08:06

Fish skin, scales touted as future economic boon for Mich., Great Lakes

The fillets that depart Motor City Seafood Co. are tidy, ready to be packaged, shipped and prepared fresh at a Metro Detroit kitchen. They don’t start that way. The Highland Park seafood distributor mostly imports whole fish. Workers fillet them by hand or send them through a system of machines that remove the scales, heads, organs and bones before they are skinned and packed away. Motor City Seafood is left with packages of carefully cut fillets and a big green bucket of the rest — skin, scales, heads, guts. While unsightly when piled in the bucket, those offcuts could be a wellspring for the region’s commercial fish industry. more, >>click to read<< 07:14

Why You Should Eat Wild Caught Fish From the Great Lakes

We have been following the plight of commercial fishing on the Great Lakes for several years. As a result, we have been contacted by folks around the country to let us know that the assault on commercial fishing for wild caught fish is happening not only in Michigan but also in every fishing area in North America. If things don’t change soon, Michigan’s remaining dozen commercial fish operations will cease. This means we must import fish like Walleye and Perch from Canada. This means restaurants, the American Legion, and other pubs offering fresh Great Lakes fish today may be unable to offer it tomorrow. Everheart gives some of the best descriptions of the asinine rules that commercial fishers operate in the Outer Banks as they do here in Michigan. She also outlines some chilling facts about farm-raised seafood that Americans import and consume from Asia and Canada. Photos, Video, >>click to read<< 13:25

18-month search for a Great Lakes shipwreck is the subject of the next DCMM speaker program

The mysterious disappearance of a commercial fishing boat in Lake Michigan, and the 18-month-long search that followed, is the topic of the next program in the Maritime Speaker Series offered by the Door County Maritime Museum. Brennan Christianson, the museum’s collections coordinator, will present “The Search for the Linda E.” Jan. 4 at the museum’s Sturgeon Bay location. The public can attend the program in person at the museum or see it online via Zoom. The Linda E. was a nearly 40-foot-long vessel designed to haul and set gill nets for commercial fishing, described as a typical Great Lakes commercial fishing boat by the Wisconsin Shipwrecks website. more, >>cick to read<< 07:55

Euclid Fish Co. pledges to use 100 percent of Great Lakes fish caught

A Mentor-based company has made a commitment to increasing the value and usefulness of fish caught in the Great Lakes. Euclid Fish Co. has signed on to the “100 percent Great Lakes Fish Pledge,” publicly committing to using 100 percent of each commercially caught Great Lakes fish productively by 2025, according to a corporate news release. As part of the pledge, Euclid Fish will explore and implement innovative applications for fish byproducts including fertilizer, protein, marine collagen, leather and other new, high-value products. According to the release, the Great Lakes are home to a sizeable commercial fishery, but only the fillets of these fish are usually eaten while the remaining 60% of the fish is relegated to inexpensive animal feed or discarded. more, >>click to read<< 09:34

Susan Collins and other lawmakers seek to expand health support for commercial fishermen 

A federal program that protects the health and wellbeing of commercial fishermen should be expanded to include substance use disorder and worker fatigue, a group of lawmakers from New England and Alaska said. The lawmakers want to expand a federal commercial fishing occupational safety program that funds research and training. The program is designed to help the nation’s fishermen with the often hazardous conditions they face at sea.Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is one of the lawmakers pushing for the change, said expanding the program would help fishermen access more safety training and mental health resources., more, >>click to read<< 10:08

Bay Port Fishing Company: A 128-year legacy in Huron County

For the last 128 years, the Bay Port Fishing Company has been on the mountaintop, withstood troubling times, and still provided fresh fish year-round to the residents of Huron County and beyond. The Bay Port Fishing Company was established in 1895 off the dock of Bay Port between Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay, by W.J. Orr and W.H. Wallace. During the early years, fisherman used sailboats to make runs, placing and tending their nets. During the winter months, they chopped holes through the ice to continue fishing and preserving the catches in salt and packed them up in kegs. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 10:12

‘Catalytic.’ How a bipartisan bill could save working waterfronts from Cape Cod to Alaska

Andrew Spalt climbs the side of the new hydraulic dredge ramp he is installing aboard his boat Miss Emma.

The Working Waterfront Protection Act (S-3180) would establish a grant program that would support working waterfronts in coastal states, including the Great Lakes. The act would provide $20 million annually through fiscal 2028. Commercial fishing cooperatives, working waterfront owners and operators, nonprofit organizations and municipal and state governments would be eligible to apply. Fishing Communities Coalition Coordinator Noah Oppenheim said support is crucial because of pressures facing working waterfront owners and fishing communities nationwide. The coalition represents more than 1,000 independent small boat fishermen and business owners from Maine to Alaska, according to its website. 8 photos, more, >>click to read<< 09:38

Vessel Review: F/V ERIN BRUCE II – Wanchese Argentina adds Scallop Trawler to the Fleet

Wanchese Argentina, a subsidiary of Cooke Seafood USA’s Wanchese Fish Company, took delivery of a new scallop trawler built by Armon Shipyard of Spain at its recently acquired Astilleros Ria de Vigo facilities. F/V Erin Bruce II will be used for year-round trawling and processing of Patagonian scallops off Argentina primarily for export to Europe and North America. Cooke Seafood USA said it is the biggest newbuild factory trawler to be operated in Argentina and the first to be constructed specifically for the domestic scallop fishery. Ross Butler, CEO of the company, remarked that the vessel is designed to be fuel-efficient and to offer modern crew accommodations. Photos, more, >>click to read<<07:48

Lawmakers form Seafood Caucus to help Louisiana fishermen

Consumers likely don’t think twice about where the shrimp or seafood bought at grocery store comes from, but Louisiana fisherman—and now federal lawmakers—are asking people to pay attention. “We’re losing an industry and a culture and a way of life in Louisiana and across the country,” said Acy Cooper, who comes from a long line of shrimpers. He says what was once a reliable profession has now become heartache. It’s not just a problem in Louisiana—which is why lawmakers from all four of the country’s coasts are joining together to find a solution. Video, >>click to read<< 10:28

Lake Superior Herring Are Thriving for the First Time in Decades

It’s an historic boom year for herring in Lake Superior, as a record number of the crucial fish appear to have survived to age one — a major developmental milestone.  After decades of disappointing numbers, the huge swell of herring — a key facet of Lake Superior’s food web — could help bolster the ecosystem and fishing industry in the world’s second-largest freshwater lake. More herring can lead to healthier populations of those fish, a boon for commercial and recreational fishers. “It’s gonna change things for a long time to come in Lake Superior,” said Goldsworthy. >>click to read<< 12:14

After felony conviction and 5-year fishing ban, the Caviar King returns to the Ohio River

David Cox is 69 years old. Emphysema makes every breath a challenge. Doctors have put so many stents in his heart that he’s lost count. And he hobbles on a bum leg overdue for surgery. None of that, though, keeps him from fishing. But Cox isn’t a run-of-the-mill angler. A long-time commercial fisherman, Cox was — and, at least in his mind, still is — Indiana’s de facto Caviar King. He’s backed up the self-proclaimed title with more than three decades of hard work, a deep knowledge of the Ohio River, and a big mouth. Since 1999, Cox and his family have caught and processed more than 15 tons of caviar worth millions of dollars. The black gold was pulled from the cold, unforgiving river one large American paddlefish at a time. Video, photos, >>click to read<< 07:25

Door County fish companies pledge for more sustainability

Three Door County fishing companies are working to make sure no fish they catch goes to waste. Henriksen Fisheries, Baileys Harbor Fish Company, and J & M Fisheries have all signed the “100% Great Lakes Fish Pledge.” The pledge is part of an initiative created by the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers. It aims to productively use 100% of each fish caught on the Great Lakes by 2025. According to the initiative, in most cases, less than half of a fish is actually used. Henriksen says they already use their fish for more than just filets. Photos. >>click to read<< 08:48

Staff at Irish Aquarium Baffled as Rare Albino Lobster Turns Blue!

The rare albino lobster has been living at the community-run Achill Experience Aquarium in Co Mayo since he was discovered off the nearby coast six years ago and has become a huge attraction for tourists. He is affectionately called Charlie after the fisherman Charlie O’Malley who caught him off the Achill coast in 2017. It is estimated that only one in 100 million lobsters are white or albino. “Every time he moults (changes shell) in order to grow, which is every 12 to 14 months, we see the blue colour which is gradually getting stronger. >>click to read<< 07:34<<

Soo Tribe says it will appeal Great Lakes commercial fishing deal

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians says it will appeal an agreement struck between four other tribes, federal regulators and state of Michigan to govern Great Lakes commercial and sport fishing. The tribe said Monday, Oct. 9 that it would appeal the agreement, which was approved by a federal judge on Aug. 24, with the U.S. Sixth Circuit court of appeals by Oct. 23. The tribe did not join the agreement, which was reached in December between the state and federal governments, and the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa, the Little River Band of Ottawa and Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa. The agreement divvies up fishing rights in parts of lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior; extending until 2047 a longstanding regulatory framework which has been under negotiation since it expired in 2020. The deal covers Great Lakes that fall within Michigan waters in which the tribes reserve fishing rights per the 1836 Treaty of Washington. >>click to read<< 18:29

Commercial Fishing on the Great Lakes is a Family Affair

Although the number of fishermen who make a living on the waters of the Great Lakes is much diminished from a half century ago, the region’s commercial whitefish fishery continues to be viable and profitable. Henriksen Fisheries is one of about a dozen commercial entities in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan, focused on trap netting whitefish in Green Bay and the waters surrounding the Door Peninsula. Charlie Henriksen started his family-owned fishing business in Door County in 1987. Originally from Illinois, the Henriksen family enjoyed vacations in Door County, and eventually bought a hotel on the peninsula and became year-round residents. Charlie was enticed into joining friends fishing on the water, and it eventually became his full-time vocation. In 1989 he purchased his first boat. Photos, >click to read< 18:55

Natural Connections: The Lake Superior Fishery in Wisconsin Waters

The boat engine rumbled and machinery whirred as a gillnet rose from the depths of Lake Superior. Captain Ross Lind managed the throttle so that the 55-foot-long gillnet-tug-turned-research-vessel named Hack Noyes moved toward the net at the same speed the net lifter reeled it in. A group of interested adults on this Museum-sponsored field trip gathered around the equipment. We were mesmerized by the clicking of the metal teeth on the spinning drum as they gripped and then released the line, and by the lengths of delicate nylon net attached to the line. Capable hands guided the net down a long, stainless-steel worktable and into the storage tub. (Check out the Museum’s Reels on Instagram and Facebook if you want to see a video of this operation.) Gillnets look like a long tennis net, anchored by weights along the lake bottom and held vertical by floats. Small fish swim right through, but bigger fish get caught. Whether a DNR biologist or a commercial fisherman is setting the net, they can choose the fish they target by the size of the mesh and the depth of set.  >click to read<  19:28

“Largest bighead carp we’ve caught:” Commercial fisherman snags massive fish in Illinois

A commercial fisherman scouring the backwaters of the Illinois River last week may have caught more than he bargained for when a massive bighead carp lodged itself in his net. What’s more surprising, it was the second fish in as many days with a weight hovering around the 100-pound mark that Charlie Gilpin Jr. hauled in while fishing the same waters. Gilpin reportedly caught the gigantic bighead carp on Thursday, June 15 — one day after he caught a 90-pounder in the same area, said Jason DeBoer, a larger river fisheries ecologist with the Illinois River Biological Station, a monitoring and research facility. >click to read<  11:50

Historic boom in Lake Superior’s herring population could be best in 40 years

Potentially record numbers of lake herring, also called cisco born last spring seem to have survived their first year of life, according to state and federal biologists. At a year old, they should be just large enough that few predators in Lake Superior will now eat them. The stunning boom, not seen since at least 1984, will help sustain both the ecosystem and Minnesota’s commercial fishing industry in one of the world’s greatest lakes for years to come, said Cory Goldsworthy, Lake Superior fisheries supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “This is what we’ve been waiting for,” Goldsworthy said. “It’s something we’ve never seen before in our careers and may not see again.” >click to read< 09:46

Bay Port Fish Company part of first Fresh Fish Expo in Lansing

Legislators and residents were gathered on the lawn of the capitol building in Lansing for the first Fresh Fish Expo, where the commercial fishing companies in Michigan provided education on the freshwater resource and were cooking up fish for those in attendance on June 13. The Bay Port Fish Company was present and brought over plenty of fish for the occasion. The company is one of eight commercial fishing license holders in the state. “A lot of people came that didn’t know about commercial fishing,” said Lakon Williams, co-owner of Bay Port Fish Company. “They were able to meet the people who provide the fish in the state and have conversations with them.” 9 photos, >click to read< 17:55

From Wheatley: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Part 2)

Cec Balkwell is at the helm of the Lake Erie gillnetter, Everett H, owned at the time by Omstead Foods of Wheatley. Doug Johnston, his twin brother Don, Jim Whitesell and Gary Hickson are working the deck. Setting net in about 10 metres of water, just off Hen Island – 25 kilometres due south of Kingsville. Doug Johnston continues his story.  “The anchor was on the rail at the stern. Cec gunned the engine; nothing unusual about that. There was a knot in the anchor line; it caught on my wedding ring. Before I knew it, I was over the stern going to the bottom.” >click to read< 08:09

Master of the Leanic: Tim McCormack continues a tradition going back five generations

For Tim McCormack, life doesn’t get any better than being out on the lake in his fishing boat, the Leanic. He says that it’s his “happy place”. “I’ve been doing this since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” he said. “My father was a fisherman and on my mother’s side my grandfather Mel McIntosh was a fisherman, and his grandfather David McIntosh was one of the first commercial fishermen in this area.” Tim learned the trade and the secrets of the lake from his father and grandfather, and he provided an analogy for his knowledge of the lake that is a little too colourful to print in a family newspaper. Now, he is passing that generational knowledge along to his son, Jordan, who is just a couple of exams away from obtaining his Captain’s licence. >click to read< 11:16

From Wheatley: Voyage to the bottom of the sea (Part 1)

I came to be speaking with Doug Johnston in the net repair room of Johnston Net and Twine, the shop, on County Road 3 on the east side of Wheatley, that Doug co-owns with his son, Rob. Doug has been in the Lake Erie commercial fishing industry for 67 of his 79 years. Of those, Doug was on Lake Erie for 34 years, and for about four years on Lake Huron, as a deckhand, and then captain and boat owner. To this day, he co-owns, with his son Rob, the Dorothy J – a 68-foot, 300-horsepower Lake Erie fish tug built in 1957 at Dunnville on the Grand River.Like most people who make their living in the commercial fishing industry, Doug has seen a lot of things: years when fish were plentiful, years when it seemed they had vanished; spectacular sunrises on smooth-as-glass water; and terrifying storms and fellow-fishermen lost and rescued. >click to read< 10:06

Retired Nanticoke commercial fisherman catches a $2 million ace

The wildly popular Catch the Ace draw resulted in a big win on Thursday evening for Richard Marshall of Nanticoke. “I just got lucky, that’s all,” Marshall said on Friday after going to the legion with his wife Lorna to pick up a cheque for $2,035,295. It’s likely the biggest catch of his life. Marshall, age 83, is a retired commercial fisherman who worked on fishing boats on Lake Superior, as well as out of Nanticoke, Port Dover and Port Burwell on Lake Erie. “My wife’s got relatives in Switzerland,” said Marshall when asked about his plans after the big win. “I think we’ll go back over there and visit them for a while.” >click to read< 11:07

‘There’s no future in it’: Parry Sound commercial fishers given ever-decreasing catch limits

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry announced it was “modernizing” the commercial fishery, including a move toward fishers digitally reporting their daily catch. “They just keep taking (our quota) away,” said Sandra LePage of Nobel, who owns B. LePage Fishery with her husband, Bernie, (whose father founded the famous fish restaurant Henry’s). In 2018, the LePage Fishery was allowed to harvest 34,559 pounds of whitefish; that has dropped annually. Now, for 2023, they are allowed to harvest 20,470 pounds. For lake trout, the max was 8,128 pounds in 2018, and for 2023, it is 4,894 pounds. Commercial fisher Bill Kalwaski, who is based out of Byng Inlet, said that when the lake trout population is high, the whitefish population is down, and “without the whitefish, there is no commercial fishery in the upper great lakes,” >click to read< 18:30

‘The season where hope comes back:’ Praying for a good catch on Lake Erie

George Gibbons understands that saying a prayer over his fishing nets may not guarantee a good catch or keep him and his fellow commercial fishermen safe on Lake Erie’s choppy waters. But it can’t hurt, either. “We’re a superstitious lot,” said Gibbons, who has been a regular at the blessing of the nets ceremony at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Port Dover since the early 1970s. The annual church service is dedicated to the fishing families of Port Dover, which was once a bustling freshwater port and still retains a small fleet of commercial tugs that will return to the water in March. >click to read< 13:37

The Bugaled Breizh, sunk in 2004, will leave the Brest arsenal to be dismantled

On January 15, 2023, it will be nineteen years since the trawler Bugaled Breizh of Loctudy (Finistère), sank in less than a minute off Cape Lizard (United Kingdom), a shipwreck that had resulted in the death of the five sailors on board. Since July 2004 and the refloating of the ship for the purposes of the investigation, the wreck is stored out of sight on the naval military base of Brest. Legal proceedings are extinguished on both sides of the Channel. In France, a dismissal order was issued and confirmed in 2016. In Great Britain, the justice concluded in 2021 to a fishing accident to explain the sinking. A thesis firmly refuted by relatives of the victims, who maintain that a submarine would be at the origin of this fatal shipwreck. photos, external links, >click to read< 15:46

Christmas at Sea

Robert Louis Stevenson telescopes the distance between a cozy Christmas scene and a life-and-death struggle on the high seas Snowstorm. While Queen Victoria’s reign saw the steady rise of steam-powered ships, sailing vessels only slowly became obsolete, and ships often used a combination of steam and sail. Stevenson had very likely experienced first-hand, if only as a passenger, the drama of “Christmas at Sea.” The poem first appeared in the Scots Observer in 1888,,, The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand; The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand; The wind was a nor’wester, blowing squally off the sea; And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee. >click to read< 12:33

Norwegian trawlers could be given ‘unfettered access’ to Irish waters

Talks resume this week over whether Ireland will be forced by the EU to allow Norway “unfettered” access to our fishing waters. The deal could be struck by the EU despite Irish objections so that other EU countries could have greater access to Norway’s cod stocks in return. The fishing industry here is still reeling from having quotas slashed by the Brexit Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA). That led to cuts to the amount of fish Irish fishers could catch being agreed between the Government and the EU. However, while Ireland’s quota cut helped the TCA over the line, the deal has made it harder for Irish fishers to earn a living. >click to read< 11:27

The Great Lakes-Iceland connection through the 100% Whitefish effort

While Great Lakes fish populations are constantly in a state of flux, one species has declined precipitously in the last decade: lake whitefish. But Great Lakes leaders and fisheries managers are looking ahead in planning to do more with less. And in the case of whitefish, a lot more. The search for a way to preserve an industry with a shrinking natural resource brought the Iceland Ocean Cluster (IOC) into focus. IOC was founded by Thor Sigfusson in 2012 with a dozen companies on-site. There are now 70. So, what is it? And could it work as a model for the Great Lakes’ new whitefish initiative? >click to read< 17:09