Category Archives: Inland Fisheries
Inland Fisheries: Lake Huron Commercial fishery moves to Harbor Beach coastal waters
We believe that there is a substantial and exploitable population of lake whitefish out there,” said DNR fisheries biologist Jim Baker. “The Canadians have been taking lake whitefish out there all these many years on their side of the lake and we suspect that we have been serving as a reservoir to supply their commercial fishery.”To judge its potential, the DNR partnered with state-licensed commercial fisherman Dana Serafin out of Pinconning to explore new fishing grounds for lake whitefish in the area. Read the rest here 12:47
Michigan Considers Controversial Commercial Net-Pen Aquaculture in Huron and Michigan
Several State agencies are looking at proposals to allow commercial net-pen aquaculture on the Great Lakes. The practice is controversial because of environmental concerns. WDET’s Amy Miller spoke with Tammy Newcomb; Senior Policy Advisor for the Department of Natural Resources. She says Ontario has allowed a few net-pens near Georgian Bay and now there are two Michigan proposals. This week the State is holding two public hearings on the two Great Lakes net-pen aquaculture proposals. Listen to the report here 08:29
Commercial fishing trial worries Lake Huron anglers
When the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced a three-year trial to allow a commercial fishery to pursue whitefish in southern Lake Huron, recreational anglers took to social media to express their outrage. The state also is hoping that by allowing the commercial fisherman, Dana Serafin, to move his operation to southern Lake Huron, some of the fishing pressure in Saginaw Bay will be relieved. the state also announced a panel to look at the possible effects of proposals to raise fish in net pens in the Great Lakes. Read the rest here 20:30
Michigan Department of Natural Resources considers commercial fishing in Lake Huron
Michigan is exploring the possibility of commercial fishing for whitefish in southern Lake Huron. The state Department of Natural Resources says it issued a research permit to a commercial fisher to explore populations. Starting this month, large mesh trap nets will be allowed in experimental fishing grounds several miles south of Harbor Beach and north of Port Sanilac. The Michigan waters of southern Lake Huron haven’t been commercially fished in five decades, but commercial fishing is established in Canadian waters. Read the rest here 10:50
Port Clinton Fish company owner invests $170,000 into business
The business, located by the Madison Street dock, has new windows, steel siding and signage. A new roof was installed about a year earlier. Rich said he believes the site has housed a fishing company since the 1920s. “It was the largest freshwater fish company in the world,” said Rich, a Castalia resident. “Railroad cars came right out here where we park and would take the fish to Chicago and New York.” The Stinson family has owned the Port Clinton Fish Co. since Rich’s dad, Lee, purchased it in 1974. Read the rest here 13:31
Great Lakes Commercial fish netters getting more for less
It’s no secret that I do not like commercial fishing. I don’t like it in the oceans where the greed of commercial netters and long-liners have a long record of collapsing stocks of fish with little regard to sustainability. The oceans are huge compared to the Great Lakes. Commercial fishing in the Great Lakes has an even worse record. Commercial fishermen mined the native lake trout in all the Great Lakes except Superior to the point the invasive lampreys could finish the job of extirpating them. Read the rest here 16:30
Michigan commercial fishing harvest’s value rises in 2014
The commercial fishing industry’s total catch last year in Michigan was down slightly, but its cash value was up. Officials say the total harvest was 200,000 pounds below that of 2013. But the gross dockside value rose $300,000, or more than 5 percent. That’s largely because of a jump in the wholesale price of whitefish. The popular species’ value has risen more than 50 percent in the past two years. Read the rest here 08:27
Jake’s Story: The Art on Ellefson Dock
The art of hand repairing fishing nets is something every commercial fishing family used to know, when the fishing industry dominated small Washington Island, north of Door County. Today, one man is keeping that tradition alive. As Jake Ellefson looks at himself through an artists eyes he says, “man, I didn’t think I looked quite that bad!” The 88-year old is looking at paintings that capture Jake’s upholding of tradition; hand repairing fishing nets. Read the rest here 10:13
To tame the invasive Asian Carp, local chef pitches processing plant
Plopping a 25-pound Asian carp in all its glorious ugliness onto a table in the middle of a conference room is a sure-fire way to get an audience’s attention. For Chef Philippe Parola it is the start of a familiar pitch: find a way to facilitate the consumption of the invasive species before it wrecks freshwater ecosystems in Louisiana, much as it already has in the upper Mississippi River valley. Read the rest here 07:55
Smeltdown: Small fish continues Great Lakes vanishing act
Like so many fish people associate with the Great Lakes, the rainbow smelt is an invasive species. The approximately 6-inch fish is native to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but moves into freshwater to spawn. It was first stocked in Crystal Lake in Benzie County in 1912, after several unsuccessful attempts to stock smelt in the St. Mary’s River to support another transplanted fish, Atlantic salmon. Smelt were found in Lake Michigan in 1923 and then spread throughout the Great Lakes. The commercial harvest of smelt on the Great Lakes reached 4.8 million pounds by 1941. Read the rest here 10:03
Meet One of Canada’s Last Great Lakes Fishermen
Fish purveyors Kendall Dewey and his wife Joanne do everything: fish, gut, filet, weigh, and package the fish that nearby restaurants like the Drake Devonshire can’t get enough of. But at 62 and 55, they want to slow down and no one is interested in taking the reigns of their business in a county that prides itself on farm-to-table cooking. Trying to find someone young that’s interested in commercial fishing is very, very difficult. (because its real work!) Read the rest here 15:45
Huge ice cap on Lake Erie puts arrival of spring on hold
The large ice cap still encrusting most of Lake Erie would cover all of Long Island, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. It’s two feet thick in many places, and melting oh-so-slowly. Last year, it wasn’t completely gone until May. The lake ice is the biggest, whitest sign that spring’s arrival is again delayed. And the temperature is not going to warm up any time soon. This will be the longest it has taken to reach 60 degrees since 1980. Read the rest here 15:24
Michigan officials weigh idea of Great Lakes fish farming
The state Department of Environmental Quality has heard from two operators interested in raising rainbow trout in netted enclosures, spokesman Brad Wurfel told The Associated Press. “We’re going to put the absolute best minds available around the table and give it due consideration,” he said. “But we haven’t forgotten that job one is protecting Michigan’s waters. We’ve been trying to be very clear that the bar here would be incredibly high.” Read the rest here 15:04
Ice sinks early start for Lake Erie commercial fishery
Easter is coming early. The ice stayed late. That’s a bad combination for Lake Erie commercial fishermen who wanted to be out catching fish for Lent earlier this month. Fishing boats are stuck in ice in the shallow Kingsville harbour but in Wheatley two fishing boats spent three hours Wednesday breaking up ice in the harbour to reach the lake. Read the rest here 19:30
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
Emerging Fishery: Asian Carp nuisance seen as growth industry
“The best way to control anything is to eat it up,” said Luu at her company in Ledbetter, on the outskirts of Paducah. “This is the second most consumed species of fish in the world. As a result, we can save our other species of fish.” Her company markets the carp as “Kentucky Blue Snapper,”,. She hopes to create 60 jobs paying about $10 an hour after receiving state approval last month to receive up to $1 million in state tax incentives. Another $4 million in similar state aid has been approved for two other nearby carp processors since 2013. Read the rest here 11:25
Asian carp chili or carp burgers, anyone?
Although Asian carp filets are too bony for most U.S. consumers, boneless minced carp can be used as healthy stand-in for ground beef in some recipes. A recent University of Missouri blind taste test found that Asian carp rated higher than catfish. Asian carp chili, anyone? It may not sound appealing at first, but Dr. Mark Morgan at the University of Missouri has received rave reviews for his unique chili on several occasions. Read the rest here 17:17
Video: Frozen Lake Erie – Record temps keep commercial fishermen off lake
The winter months are normally slow times for those at Euclid Fish Company when it comes to expecting fresh water fish, such as yellow perch, to fill their freezers. This winter’s haul has hit a wall of ice. All winter Euclid Fish Company’s suppliers from Canada truck in boxes of frozen stock caught by commercial fishermen meeting quotas on Lake Erie. Often they can fish somewhere on the lake that hasn’t iced up, still meeting commercial demands. That isn’t the case this year and in 2013. Read the rest here 21:45
Invasive Asian carp fish spawning in Louisville
A highly invasive fish commonly called Asian carp is proliferating in the Ohio River at Louisville, with a spawning area below the McAlpine Locks and Dam. A report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says two species of the fish, Bighead and Silver carp, are spawning at Louisville. State Fish and Wildlife hosted a first-ever commercial fishing contest in 2013 at Kentucky and Barkley lakes to reduce the populations. Read the rest here 14:52
Lake Manitoba Commercial Fishermen’s Association Plans Strategy
Members of the Lake Manitoba Commercial Fishermen’s Association, South Basin gathered in Portage la Prairie yesterday to plan their strategy concerning jackfish in the lake. They believe an increase in the jackfish population’s impacted the perch and pickerel fishery, to the point where fishers can no longer make a living. Chair Allan Gaudry of St. Laurent says the meeting produced three options they’ll take to Conservation Minister Gord MacIntosh. Read the rest here 07:45
One Great Lakes invasive species may have found a niche
Can invasive species be good news – rather than bad – for native fish in the Great Lakes? That sounds counterintuitive, but a new study shows that the invasive round goby has become an important food source for several native species, especially smallmouth bass, but with benefits also for yellow perch and walleye. The study calls the round goby “one of the most successful aquatic invaders” in the Great Lakes. Read the rest here 18:03
Lake Manitoba Commercial Fishing In Jeopardy
The local commercial fishing industry is being threatened by the 
into Lake Manitoba. Fishermen have noticed more jackfish, also known as northern pike, since water from the Assiniboine River was diverted into Lake Manitoba during the flood of 2011. Perry Gaudry’s a commercial ice fisherman, and says the increased population is starting to reduce the population of the other fish. Read the rest here 12:27
Diabetes drug found in Lake Michigan could (?) harm fish, researchers say.
THERE is more than one way to measure prescription drug use. The most direct method is to count prescriptions filled by pharmacies. Or you could test the treated water coming out of sewage treatment plants. Other commonly found substances include caffeine; sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic; and triclosan, an antibacterial and antifungal found in soap and other consumer products. Read the rest here 17:37
Great Lakes commercial fisheries issues to be discussed at Michigan Fish Producers conference
and Michigan State University Extension will be coordinating a daylong, educational program on current issues affecting the Great Lakes commercial fishing industry. Topics include changing water levels, prey fish populations, sea lamprey control, contaminants, sustainability and purchasing local fish. The program will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31 as part of the Michigan Fish Producers Association Annual Conference at the Grand Traverse Resort in Acme, Michigan Read more here 15:05
Few native fishing complaints valid: MNRF
It’s too early to say much about an allegation that commercial fishermen may be responsible for the presence of 14 fish found on shore,,, 
Chief Vern Roote said Friday in an interview that racism fuels a lot of people who “nitpick” about the commercial fishery, which is controlled by the Saugeen Ojibway Nation. Read the rest here 19:25
Lake Erie Commercial fishing done for the year
Even though the species have changed over the years, Lake Erie has long hosted a valuable commercial fishing industry. The first fish caught in commercial quantities included muskellunge and northern pike, before moving on to whitefish varieties and then members of the perch family. Read the rest here 16:43
Huge USF&WS investigation in northern Michigan and Northeastern Wisconsi- probe Great Lakes commercial fishing – Video
The targets included members of numerous tribes in Wisconsin and Michigan, including the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Red Cliff Band of Chippewa Indians and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The investigation also includes non-natives. Read the rest here 10:35
BREAKING: Investigators Surround Sturgeon Bay Fish Business
State and federal investigators spent the day at a Sturgeon Bay business. DNR conservation wardens stood guard outside Dan’s Fish, Incorporated. Other investigators could be seen going in and out of the building. A spokesperson with the US Attorney’s Office of Western Michigan wouldn’t confirm an investigation but sources tell us a search warrant conducted today involves a tri-state investigation tied to the commercial fishing industry. Read the rest here 10:57
Great Lakes fishery managers need insight on climate change impacts
Great Lakes fishery managers worry that their operations may be harmed by invasive species, habitat loss in the long run, according to a new study. Read the rest here 08:52
China again shows interest in Grafton fish plant – commercializing Asian carp
Chinese natural resources officials will visit American Heartland Fish Products Wednesday seeking knowledge about Asian carp from the U.S. manufacturing company that began reducing the invasive species’ populations in U.S. inland waterways, “They are interested in learning everything they can about what is going on with Asian carp in the U.S.,,, Read more here 11:14
