Tag Archives: Great Lakes fishing industry

‘Follow the Fish’ to learn about tugs at GLMHC on Thursday

“Follow the Fish” to learn about the evolution of commercial fishing vessels in the Great Lakes. Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Maritime Archaeologist Cassandra Sadler will examine the historical development of the traditional Great Lakes commercial fish tug. “Fish tugs and fishing vessels were immensely important to the Great Lakes fishing industry,” Sadler said. “There aren’t many of the fish tugs left … there’s only a handful of active commercial fish tugs, and many are in museums. So, we’re just trying to document them before they all disappear.” Photos, >click to read< 08:28

Working Waterfronts: Development threatens Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River fishing industry

The Great Lakes’ commercial fishery is nothing like what it was a hundred years ago. But from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence River, there are still people who make their living catching and selling fish. However, they face increasing competition from hotels, condos and other developments for loading and docking space along the shoreline. One example,, The Minor family has been a long standing fishing family, they’re now in their third generation. And they recently had the experience of coming back from a day of fishing, and found that the place that they’ve been unloading fish for generations was suddenly unavailable, because there was new construction for a cruise ship dock going in. >click to read< 16:34

Extreme winter puts $100M Great Lakes fishing industry behind schedule

The commercial fishing season is weeks behind schedule because boats remain lodged in ice formed over the course of the second consecutive extremely cold winter on the Great Lakes. Greater ice coverage last year delayed the 2014 commercial fishing season by nearly six weeks. Once fishing started, it was so good that 2014 went down as one of the strongest years in recent memory. Read the rest here 09:17