What’s more Michigan than whitefish? Collapse erodes bit of state’s identity

June 22, 2025 Inland Fisheries

Way back in 1710, French explorer Antoine-Denis Raudot raved about Great Lakes whitefish, writing that it “must be the best fish in the world, since all those who have eaten it say they never grow tired of it.” If anything, the affection has only grown since. The fish is also on the brink of collapse in lakes Huron and Michigan, mainly due to invasive quagga and zebra mussels that filter away nutrients, starving the fish that spawn on shoreline reefs. That’s changing our relationship with whitefish, transforming it from a mainstay of daily life to increasingly a source of nostalgia for the past. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:45

commercial fishing, commercial fishing in Fishtown, filter away nutrients, fisherman Alan Petersen, fisherman Joel Peterson, Great Lakes, Great Lakes whitefish, invasive quagga and zebra mussels, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, on the brink, starving the fish, the brink of collapse

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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