Tag Archives: Lake Erie
William R. Miller: Why don’t we restore commercial fishing in Erie?
There are two kinds of jobs, those that “create wealth” by bringing money into the region from outside the region and those jobs that “circulate wealth” within the region. Fish we take from the lake, crops that we grow, minerals that we extract from the ground, products that we manufacture, retirees we convince to live here, services provided to outside individuals and organizations, and tourists who we attract, all create wealth for the region. Each wealth-creation job typically supports about three wealth-circulating job in the region. We’ll focus here on one potential source for wealth-creating jobs. In 1890, Erie was the largest, in tonnage, freshwater fishing port in the entire world. Today, my understanding is that Erie is down to one commercial fisherman and the Canadian Great Lakes fishing industry is now about a $1 billion industry. What happened? >click to read< 15:45
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
‘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
Aboard the Lake Erie Fishing Tug Lady Anna II (Part 5)
“The challenge to make money. If you don’t catch fish, you don’t make money. Fun’s not the word. I just enjoy it; it’s a challenging and rewarding job. There’s good days and bad days. There’s a different outcome every day.” Mike Mummery, captain of Lady Anna II, responding to the question: “What do you like best about commercial fishing?” I ask Captain Mummery what worries him most about the commercial fishing industry. Eyes glued to the horizon, he replies: “The cost of everything. Everything’s gone up. There’s no stability. Profit margins have gone down. The cost of diesel has doubled. 
Everything’s made of oil, even the nets. Hopefully, it stays good for the established guys. But it’s tough for somebody to get into the business. Just a license costs a million dollars now. That’s almost impossible for the normal guy to do. The well-established guys may stay in; you have to be well established.” >click to read< 09:20
Aboard the Lake Erie fishing tug Lady Anna II (Part 4)
It’s 7 a.m. on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. The Lady Anna II is about 10 miles due south of Kingsville heading north-by-northwest, and home. It’s all hands at the starboard midship “picking” station. The crew – Craig Adamson, James “Marty” Martin, Curtis Mummery and Josh Mummery – carefully remove the 2,000 pounds of pickerel from the nets hauled aboard one hour and 20 minutes ago. The first “set,” and all the hawk-like attention it requires of Captain Mummery, is done. So I take a chance, and walk up the two steps into the wheelhouse. Captain Mummery stands motionless, eyes glued to the horizon, snacking on brunch – a chocolate chip cookie. Laughing quietly, he tells me, “I always have chocolate chip cookies in my pail. It’s a bad day if I don’t have my chocolate chip cookies.” And then he tells me that even though the Lady Anna II is pointed toward home, the work is only half finished. Another “pull” and set will be done before getting back to Kingsville. >click to read< 08:25
Inland Fisheries: ‘It’s in the blood’ for Lake Erie commercial fishermen
It’s about 6:25 a.m. on Tuesday, March 29 on the pitch-black calm of Lake Erie. The Lady Anna II is pointed due south, about 10 miles due south of Kingsville and five miles northwest of the north shore of Pelee Island. In the wheelhouse, Captain Mike Mummery has slowed the Lady Anna II to a one-knot crawl. Craig Adamson and Josh Mummery are at the starboard midship “picking” station, removing 2,000 pounds of pickerel from the more than one-third of a mile of net hauled aboard just 35 minutes ago. James “Marty” Martin and Curtis Mummery stand by at the open sliding doors of the port stern hatch. “Marty” is facing the stern, just forward of the “roller”; a metal spool mounted vertically on a metal pole. At his feet are boxes loaded-up with 160-yard-long sections of empty, clean net. The end of one of those boxes of net is draped over the roller, towards the stern. > Click to read < 10:53
Aboard the Lake Erie fishing tug Lady Anna II (Part 2)
At the end of Part 1 it was 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 29. The Lady Anna II was about five miles due south of Kingsville in 35 feet of 35-degree Fahrenheit Lake Erie water. Captain Mike Mummery had just slowed the Lady Anna II to a crawl. Curtis Mummery and James “Marty” Martin were standing-by in the port bow door, searching – in the white-lightning glare of Lady Anna II’s LED masthead light – for the flagged marker buoy that marked one end of a 640-yard-long (yes, that’s more than a one-third mile) “strap” of gill net. The first “pull” of the day was about to start. >click to read<
Aboard the Lake Erie fishing tug Lady Anna II (Part 1), >click to read<
Commercial fishing out of Wheatley Harbour is like ‘farming on the water’ >click to read< 15:08
Aboard the Lake Erie fishing tug Lady Anna II (Part 1)
It’s 4:35 a.m. in the early-morning pitch-black of Tuesday, March 29, at the edge of Kingsville harbour on the north shore of Lake Erie. The wind whistles in from the north. The thermometer in my truck reads -5°C. It feels more like -20°C. Tied to the dock on the glassy-calm waters of the harbour is the Lady Anna II. I already feel cold. Gazing at the Lady Anna II makes me feel even colder. I imagine that inside must feel like being in a tin can in a freezer turned to maximum cold. I’m supposed to meet Captain Mike Mummery and his crew at 5 a.m. for a day of fishing – to see what the Lake Erie commercial fishery is really like. And then, at 5:05 a.m., a white pickup truck roars up to dock-side and out pour the captain and his crew: Craig Adamson of Leamington, and James “Marty” Martin, Curtis Mummery and Josh Mummery, all of Wheatley. They all are all business. >click to read< 09:46
Commercial fishing out of Wheatley Harbour is like ‘farming on the water’
On a foggy March 9, I followed the 15-mile-long County Rd. 1, the Wheatley Road, due south from Tilbury. Except for two bends, that skinny ribbon of two-lane asphalt shoots arrow-straight and pancake-flat across the see-forever farmlands connecting Tilbury to Lake Erie’s north shore and to Wheatley, the world’s largest commercial, freshwater fishing port. So it was with Lady Anna II. I heard the low purr of a slow-turning diesel engine before I saw her. When I first spotted her, she looked like a small, grey box suspended over Lake Erie. And, before I knew it, her bow slicing the glassy-smooth water at a cruising speed of nine knots, Lady Anna II was at the mouth of Wheatley Harbour. >click to read< 22:00
Meet the families working to keep fisheries alive on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie
Lake Erie fisherman Tim Martin knows that his business has helped strengthen local food systems. He and his four family members harvest and process their own fish, then sell it at their retail location in Port Burwell, Ont. During the pandemic, when global supply chains buckled and grocery store shelves were wiped clean, the family was able to stay in business. They experienced a heavy rush of local customers, most of whom, Martin says, have become loyal regulars. Yet in Port Burwell, where the Martins have operated for more than 30 years, they are the only permanent commercial fishing business that remains. Deteriorating infrastructure on the waterfront and a high cost of entry into the fishery fails to support any aspiring newcomers. Here are three families still working in the Great Lakes commercial fishing industry in Ontario,,, photos, >click to read< 09:23
Converted Great Lakes Fishing Tug makes fishing possible for the disabled
A specially designed boat is connecting those with physical challenges to the joys of fishing on the water. “It’s amazing. I can’t believe it took so long for someone to come up with this idea,” Sean Ferry of Erie said about At The Lake Ministries in Erie. The nonprofit group converted a former commercial ship into a fishing boat that accommodates wheelchairs.,, Now they have a large ship that can handle groups of people who are facing similar challenges and spend a day outdoors.,, Volunteers, including some who are trained welders, electricians and painters, worked to convert the 53-foot ship into a passenger watercraft. It was built in 1980 and was the last commercial fishing vessel built by Paasch Marine Services (200th hull). The ship was formerly owned by the Munch family of commercial anglers and they named it the Jo-Ann M in honor of the family’s matriarch. Wilson said it’s only fitting the name stays with the ship. Video, photos, >click to read< 08:08
Family owned working waterfront fishing businesses displaced by waterfront developments on Great Lakes
For three generations, the Minor family, today brothers Carson and Landon and their father Paul, have been up before first light to board their fishing tug and make their way to their fishing grounds on Lake Erie. Most mornings, the Minors leave from Port Colborne, Ont., Each afternoon they return to the port to unload their fresh catch of perch and pickerel.,, Without warning, the unloading zone their family had used for more than 70 years was blocked off. They were forced to move to a new port further away from their fishing grounds, increasing travel time and putting them at greater risk during bad weather.,, The Minors’ story is not new, nor is it isolated. Working waterfront access is being affected by coastal gentrification, also called “coastal grabbing” >click to read< 16:47
‘15 minutes out mama’: The tragic story of Port Dover fisherman Michael Smith who drowned in Lake Erie
Frigid water shushing against the hull, spray peppering windows, as the fish tug bores through Lake Erie, clouds breaking to reveal the pale, fleeting blue of a mercurial March sky. On board, Michael Smith sent his wife a text like he always did to start the day: “Good morning beautiful, I love you.” They headed southwest around Long Point, the 40-kilometre sand spit that stretches nearly halfway across the lake. Smith recorded video: the wheelhouse, engine rumbling, tote boxes awaiting some of the first smelt of the commercial fishing season. He pulled open a steel door through which the trawling net is pulled, to show the water rolling by. He made it a ritual to kiss the net before releasing it to the lake. >click to read< 10:41
Offshore Wind Farms are new danger for Lake Erie through Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal
The proposal to install offshore wind turbines on the Eastern side of Lake Erie was brought to my attention during the annual Woodlawn Beach cleanup last September. Since then I have learned much about how negative this would be for Lake Erie and the people and wildlife that depend on it, the protests around the world against these types of projects and the media paywalls that are stifling our knowledge of them. Global developers have called the Great Lakes the “Saudi Arabia of Wind,” and surprisingly, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups that oppose Peace Bridge reconstruction and shoreline development endorse the turbines. Can you see the dollar signs? Can you trust a global industry with our fresh water? By Mary Henson, >click to read< 14:22
Coronavirus devastating commercial fishing industry
Lifelong commercial fisherman Mark Weaver had anticipated a bumper season for his family-run commercial fishery before the COVID-19 pandemic left the industry almost dead in the water. Now, he and the rest of Ontario’s commercial fishing industry are facing a bleak future that could leave them struggling just to survive. “I don’t know how we’re going to pay the bills,” Weaver said. While Lake Erie would normally be dotted with commercial fishing vessels at this time of year, their boats aren’t leaving the docks in Port Stanley, Wheatley and other Southwestern Ontario ports this spring since there’s nowhere to sell their catch. “It’s a total supply chain challenge and crisis that we’re in,” said Jane Graham, executive director of the Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association. April has been one of the “most productive fishing months of the year,” Graham said. And it looked like this April would have been just as productive, Weaver said. >click to read< 22:01
U.S., Canadian coast guards rely on each other to save lives
Snowy, dark and difficult to see from a few hundred feet in the air — U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue pilot Lieutenant Aaron Jones recalls responding to three medical emergencies on Pelee Island, in southwestern Ontario, in the span of a month. In those cases, the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Detroit was best suited to respond, highlighting the importance of the relationship between both countries’ coast guards. >click to read< 09:28
In the Great Lakes’ most productive fishing grounds, algae-fueled dead zones are eroding livelihoods
From his lakefront dock in Crystal Rock, 70 miles west of Cleveland, Dean Koch still gleefully reminisces on his career as a commercial fisherman in the heyday. At his first industry meeting in Sandusky in the late 1960s, fishing moguls booked the entire Holiday Inn and filled all the rooms. Back then, fishermen set hundreds of miles of gill nets and thousands of trap nets in Lake Erie.,, Now, Koch, 70, says, the number of fishermen who hold commercial licenses could sit around the small round table in his garage. >click to read< 08:22
Asian carp: Turning a nuisance into a commodity for the Great Lakes
One of the great myths about Asian carp is that the war against them will be won if the Great Lakes region succeeds in keeping them out of Lake Michigan. Indeed the stakes are high in that part of the Midwest, including in communities that wrap around the fertile fishing waters of Lake Erie’s western basin, and the rivers that feed into the lake.,, But the Great Lakes are the site of only one battle in the Asian carp war, and environmental experts contend there is no apparent end in sight to what has evolved over several decades into a slow-moving biological disaster cutting across the heart of North America, Video, photo’s, >click to read< 17:20
Erie man last commercial fisherman in Monroe County
It hasn’t been an easy summer for Dave Blair. The Erie native — who has long been the only continuously active commercial fisherman in Monroe County — says he was way off of his typical catch rates this year due to the higher-than-normal water levels of Lake Erie. Blair also blamed the runoff from area farms, which he says contributed to a bad spawn. “We did alright with certain species, but our main species of carp and buffalo we didn’t do nothing on them,” Blair said. This is just the latest hurdle Blair has had to overcome. >click to read< 15:07
Lake Erie walleye quotas up but ‘devastating’ drop for perch, says commercial fishery
The allowable catch limit for yellow perch in Lake Erie has dropped by as much as 32 per cent for the part of the lake near Chatham-Kent, Tim Tiessen, president of the Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association, said Monday. The quota is dropping by about 20 per cent for commercial fishing boats operating south of Essex County.,,, “That’s going to be hard for the fisherman,” On the plus side, the quota for walleye is going up about 20 per cent across Lake Erie. The binational Lake Erie Committee of fishery managers from Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ontario recently decided the total allowable catch limits,,, >click to read<16:43
Fisherman Charged in Wife’s Lake Killing Despite No Body
A commercial fisherman’s story about his wife disappearing into the depths of Lake Erie on a boating trip isn’t adding up, and Pennsylvania authorities believe they know why. They say he’s the one who put her there. Christopher Leclair, 48, is jailed on a charge of criminal homicide in the presumed death of his wife of nearly 26 years, Karen, whose body has not been found. Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri, “If you don’t have a body, you’re going to have to have a strong circumstantial case,” he said. The prosecutor and Kline believe they do, including other statements from Christopher Leclair that also don’t jibe, according to police affidavits filed with search warrants and criminal complaints. click here to read the story 11:50
Updated: Husband Charged with Homicide After Reporting Wife Missing in Lake
Pennsylvania State Police have filed charges against the husband of an Albion woman who reportedly went missing in Lake Erie over the weekend. Erie News Now has learned Christopher Leclair, 48, has been charged with criminal homicide in the death of his wife Karen. Karen Leclair, 51, was reported missing Sunday afternoon. Christopher Leclair told the U.S. Coast Guard she had fallen off their commercial fishing vessel on Lake Erie Sunday afternoon. State Police tell us surveillance video catches Christopher Leclair and his wife heading onto the lake on Saturday and Christoper returning alone. Investigators say the video shows Christopher Leclair heading out on the water again Sunday. click here to read the story and related articles 0
Surveillance Video Helps Police Charge Husband in Wife’s Murder – When questioned by police, the other woman said Leclair spent the night at her house Saturday and the two discussed moving in together. click here to read the story 12:51
Woman Reported Missing in Lake Erie After Falling From a Fishing Boat
Pennsylvania State Police have issued search warrants as they are called in to assist in the case of a woman missing in Lake erie, after her husband reported she fell off a boat Sunday afternoon. She is identified as 51-year-old Karen LeClair of Albion. Her husband 48-year-old Christopher Leclair says it was the commercial fishing vessel he operates, the “Doris M.” that she fell from. According to Sgt. Brook Tolbert of the PA Fish and Boat Commission, Mrs. Leclair, a partner with her husband in a commercial fishing enterprise called, Lake Erie Fishing was not wearing a life vest. . “Mr. Leclair indicated that she was not wearing a life vest, there were plenty of life vests on board the vessel at the time, but she was not wearing it and she’s not required to wear it,” Video, click here to read the story 20:43
TAC increase brings optimistic times for Lake Erie commercial fishery
The Canada-U.S. committee that manages the fishery likes the recent research data it has seen. As a result, the Lake Erie Committee has increased the amount of yellow perch and walleye commercial fishermen are allowed to catch this year. The total allowable catch for yellow perch has been pegged at 10.4 million pounds. This is a 13 percent increase over 2016. The numbers are even better for walleye, which is commonly served in lakeshore restaurants as pickerel. As a top predator in the lake, walleye are managed as individuals and not by weight. The Lake Erie Committee will allow 5.924 million walleye to be harvested this year. That’s a 20 percent increase over 2016. click here to read the story 09:38
Ontario needs fishing boat captains — and thus has called Newfoundland
Lake Erie needs boat captains. The fishery, one of Ontario’s relatively quiet but successful businesses, is facing the same problem as fisheries around North America: its labourers are ageing into retirement and too few young people are interested in replacing them. “We have boats right now that aren’t able to fish because there’s no one to captain the boat,” says Jane Graham of the Ontario Commercial Fisheries Association (OCFA). “People on the fishing tugs require specialized training, and we’re having a hard time finding them.” So who do you call when you need more fishing boat captains? Newfoundland and Labrador, it turns out. Read the story here 15:11
Lake Erie captain ordered to use GPS after pleading guilty to multiple counts under the Fisheries Act
A Leamington commercial fishing boat captain with decades of sailing experience in Lake Erie has agreed to have his boat’s movements monitored by GPS during the next two years. Paolo Adragna, 50, pleaded guilty to multiple counts under the Fisheries Act in a Chatham court Monday, as part of a joint submission that he also pay $18,000 in fines and the family company, 149561 Ontario Limited, was assessed another $2,000 in fines for illegal fishing operations in 2015. Charges against the defendant’s elderly parents, who were jointly charged, were withdrawn. Crown attorney Demetrius Kappos said the defendant was the captain of the vessel Kimmy Sue and a director in the family business that holds two commercial food fishing licences to take fish from zones 1 and 2 in Lake Erie. Kappos said ministry staff conducted an inspection of the Kimmy Sue at the Port of Kingsville on Oct. 1, 2015 and found several trays containing undersized gill nets, a breach of a licensing condition. Read the story here 08:01
Meijer Partnership with Commercial Fishing Company Exemplifies Commitment to Local
The partnership between Meijer and Great Lakes commercial fishing company, La Nassa Foods, began on a handshake nearly two decades ago and continues to thrive today based on a mutual commitment to provide Meijer customers with the highest quality lake fish. As a result, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer is able to offer customers at each of its 230 stores across the Midwest with nearly 500,000 pounds of Lake Erie walleye, yellow perch and other lake species each year. Today, it’s the longest-running partnership Meijer has with a local fishing company, which harvests from Lake Erie daily and delivers the catch to the Meijer Distribution Facility in southeast Michigan four days a week. The partnership has also led La Nassa to grow from three fishing vessels and 35 employees to 11 vessels and 105 employees over the past 18 years, said Tony Giacalone, president of La Nassa Foods. Read the story here 10:48
Goldfish – A lucrative Great Lakes commercial catch
Whenever Dave DeLong brings in one of his Maumee Bay seine nets, there’s almost always one or two distinctive bright orange fish swimming around the writhing mass of bullhead, catfish and carp. DeLong, a Lake Erie commercial fisherman, makes a living hauling live fish to the Luna Pier Harbor Club, where his catch is weighed and sold. He’s been fishing for 45 years on Lake Erie and goldfish have been part of that catch every year.”We used to throw them away,” he said. Not anymore. Goldfish — larger versions of the species found in household aquariums — have been a part of the Great Lakes ecosystem for a long, long time. While that’s really no secret, most would be surprised to learn just how many actually inhabit the bi-national waters. Photo gallery, Read the rest here 13:16
Commercial fisherman pulls a grass carp from his net in Lake Erie
On Thursday, September 17, 2015 a commercial fisherman had an interesting find when he pulled a grass carp from his net in Lake Erie .The Grass carp is a species of the Asian carp, which feeds on aquatic vegetation. The fish was caught west of Point Pelee Thursday morning and weighed in at about 23 pounds (10.5 kilograms), though they have been known to grow upwards of 99 pounds (45 kilograms). The carp was sent to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Burlington for testing. This specific testing will include whether the fish was fertile or sterile,,, Read the rest here 12:22
