Research article
“Fish Tails” refers to articles that are submitted by field staff that do not appear as a feature in the current edition of Fish Lines. These articles provide examples of the diverse work that the Service’s Midwest Fisheries Program and partners perform on behalf of our aquatic resources and for the benefit of the American public.
Mackinac – An Island Famous in These Regions
A book documenting the history and heritage o Mackinac Island, written by Phil Porter and published by Mackinac State Historic Parks in 1998. “Home of the Fish” (pages 33-37) is a chapter dedicated to the historic fisheries, including commercial fishing and fish trade of Mackinac Island.
Field Notes- USFWS -Midwest Region Fisheries Division
“Field Notes” is an online searchable database that showcases hundreds of employee-written summaries of field activities and accomplishments of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from across the nation.
A Good Boat Speaks for Itself – Isle Royale Fisherman and Their Boats
A Good Boat Speaks for Itself: Isle Royale Fisherman and Their Boats by Timothy Cochrane and Hawk Tolson This book was published in 2002 by the University of Minnesota Press. A summary of this book, as provided by University of Minnesota Press, is described as follows: Isle Royale is a sliver of land in the rugged northern reaches of Lake Superior. Now a national park renowned for its isolation and untamed natural beauty, Isle Royale was home to a vibrant fishing community from its settlement during the 1880s by Norwegian and Swedish immigrants until the collapse of Lake Superior commercial fishing in the 1950s. Full of historical photographs and diagrams of now derelict watercraft, A Good Boat Speaks for Itself tells the history of this unique community through its wooden boats and the stories of those who built and used them. Timothy Cochrane and Hawk Tolson interviewed dozens of men and women who fished the lake and built the boats that made this life possible. With these accounts they trace the evolution of this maritime community through the various boat designs used over the years on Isle Royale. From the original Mackinaw sailboats to the gas boats and herring skiffs developed specifically for the harsh conditions of Lake Superior, these wooden boats incorporated Old World traditions of handicraft and pioneering New World technologies. They were an extension of the fishermen who relied on them, helping these men to navigate miles out on the open lake in both “dirty weather” and on bright clear days. These boats were part of a family tradition: for generations fathers taught sons how to fish, what to look for in a boat, and how to eke out a living from the “Big Lake.” A Good Boat Speaks for Itself is an absorbing chronicle of fishing families who adapted to the rigors of Lake Superior and a valuable historical resource for anyone with an interest in wooden boats.
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Book by Dan Egan, published by W.W. Norton & Company (2018). This documentary book explores social and ecological issues facing the Great Lakes, past and present, including relevant reading relating to Great Lakes fisheries. This book is described by W. W. Norton & Company publishing, as follows: The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.
Great Lakes Fisheries Policy and Management, A Binational Perspective
Great Lakes Fisheries Policy and Management: A Binational Perspective This Great Lakes fisheries policy and management book, second edition, is edited by William W. Taylor, Abigail J. Lynch, and Nancy J. Leonard, and published by the Michigan State University Press (2013). The book is described by MSU Press, as follows: To maintain thriving, sustainable fisheries in the Laurentian Great Lakes, an understanding of the numerous and complex ecological, societal, economic, management, and policy issues surrounding them is critical. This incisive study provides a collaborative, interjurisdictional, and multi-use perspective that is shaped by the United states and Canada together as part of their shared governance of these waters. This book offers an informed look at the Great Lakes fisheries and their ecosystems, as the contributors examine both the threats they have faced and the valuable opportunities they provide for basin citizens and industries. Divided into four sections—the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes Fisheries, Fisheries case studies, and outlook for the Future—this is a valuable and up-to-date tool for students, researchers, policymakers, and managers alike.
Pandora’s Locks, The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway
Book by Jeff Alexander, published by Michigan State University Press (2011), exploring the issue and implications of invasive species resulting from a series of locks, canals, and dams that opened the Great Lakes to global shipping. The book is described by MSU Press, as follows: The St. Lawrence Seaway was considered one of the world’s greatest engineering achievements when it opened in 1959. The $1 billion project-a series of locks, canals, and dams that tamed the ferocious St. Lawrence River-opened the Great Lakes to the global shipping industry. Linking ports on lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario to shipping hubs on the world’s seven seas increased global trade in the Great Lakes region. But it came at an extraordinarily high price. Foreign species that immigrated into the lakes in ocean freighters’ ballast water tanks unleashed a biological shift that reconfigured the world’s largest freshwater ecosystems. Pandora’s Locks is the story of politicians and engineers who, driven by hubris and handicapped by ignorance, demanded that the Seaway be built at any cost. It is the tragic tale of government agencies that could have prevented ocean freighters from laying waste to the Great Lakes ecosystems, but failed to act until it was too late. Blending science with compelling personal accounts, this book is the first comprehensive account of how inviting transoceanic freighters into North America’s freshwater seas transformed these wondrous lakes.
Wilcox Fisheries, Fishing Family Profile
The ‘shining big sea waters’ of Gitchee Gumee (Lake Superior) provide near pristine habitat for lake whitefish and other prized species such as lake trout and lake herring. You can find prime specimens of those fish, caught by Ralph Wilcox’s family. As patrons savor the delicate flavor of whitefish and munch on fries and coleslaw, they can see evidence of the family’s fishing history in the photo collage that decorates the wall, and possibly hear Ralph and his wife Shirley discuss the day’s catch. Behind the restaurant is the boat that their son Dan built to bring the catch to the dock from the vessel that has to be moored on an outlying island because of Lake Superior’s unusually low water levels, the lowest Ralph can remember on the world’s largest (by surface area) freshwater lake. [Ralph has also been dealing with another challenge to his fishing way of life—sea lamprey, the scourge of the lake trout. It seems they’re more abundant than ever, despite decades of treating the larval lamprey in streams that flow into Lake Superior.] For some folks, these challenges would be enough to send them to another line of work, especially considering the low prices they had been getting for their product from wholesalers. In fact, many young people find it easier to work in the casino than gamble with the hard work and uncertain conditions and low return on investment that fishing families face. But Ralph is undaunted. “We think of new things to do,” he says, “like this restaurant. It’s fun; an adventure every day.” And Shirley nods knowingly. It’s truly a family affair, as Dan plays an essential role in the fishing operation, while she and their daughter manage the restaurant kitchen, as well as sell smoked fish and condiments to folks who want to take home a Superior taste. It’s been a family affair for generations; Ralph’s is the fourth to work the nets and haul in the catch. He first became involved when he was three years old, and had his own small boat by the time he was 9 or 10. He’s worked with cotton nets, linen, nylon, monofilament and now Nytex. He hopes that Dan will carry it on. Meanwhile, Ralph persists and is glad to be healthy enough to continue harvesting the bounty from Superior’s waters and seeing people in the restaurant enjoy the product of his family’s labors. This story posted in Fishing Families on Great Lakes Whitefish website (view PDF version of original web content)
Fishing the Great Lakes, An Environmental History 1783-1933
Fishing the Great Lakes: An Environmental History, 1783–1933 An environmental history book by Margaret Beattie Bogue, published and available for purchase by University of Wisconsin Press (2000). Book and author described by UW Press as follows: A sobering history of the destruction of the fisheries of the Great Lakes Fishing the Great Lakes is a sweeping history of the destruction of the once-abundant fisheries of the great “inland seas” that lie between the United States and Canada. Though lake trout, whitefish, freshwater herring, and sturgeon were still teeming as late as 1850, Margaret Bogue documents here how overfishing, pollution, political squabbling, poor public policies, and commercial exploitation combined to damage the fish populations even before the voracious sea lamprey invaded the lakes and decimated the lake trout population in the 1940s. From the earliest records of fishing by native peoples, through the era of European exploration and settlement, to the growth and collapse of the commercial fishing industry, Fishing the Great Lakes traces the changing relationships between the fish resources and the people of the Great Lakes region. Bogue focuses in particular on the period from 1783, when Great Britain and the United States first politically severed the geographic unity of the Great Lakes, through 1933, when the commercial fishing industry had passed from its heyday in the late nineteenth century into very serious decline. She shows how fishermen, entrepreneurial fish dealers, the monopolistic A. Booth and Company (which distributed and marketed much of the Great Lakes catch), and policy makers at all levels of government played their parts in the debacle. So, too, did underfunded scientists and early conservationists unable to spark the interest of an indifferent public. Concern with the quality of lake habitat and the abundance of fish increasingly took a backseat to the interests of agriculture, lumbering, mining, commerce, manufacturing, and urban development in the Great Lakes region. Offering more than a regional history, Bogue also places the problems of Great Lakes fishing in the context of past and current worldwide fishery concerns. Margaret Beattie Bogue is professor emerita of history and liberal studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of Around the Shores of Lake Michigan: A Guide to Historic Sites, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press, and of many other books and articles on fisheries, wetlands, and agriculture in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada.
VanLandschoot & Sons Fishery, Fishing Family Profile
VanLandschoots work as a team—from net to sale. Grandfathers, fathers, sons, uncles, brothers and cousins have all played a role VanLandschoot & Sons Fishery for more than 100 years. Whether fishing under the ice in Bay de Noc on Lake Michigan as they used to, or out of the three Lake Superior ports they now use. The current generation—brothers Jerry, David and Gary and their cousin Paul—are proud of their heritage and have been involved in fishing, one way or another, since they were pre-schoolers. Each team member knows what he needs to do, and all move through their tasks with precision that reflects their years of experience. They fillet the whitefish with their razor sharp knives faster than the eye can follow. This is their life’s work, and they do it well, taking great care to market only top quality fish. Their Belgian grandfather Phil, who started this family’s business, would be proud. The VanLandschoots set trap nets off the Keweenaw Peninsula, as well as closer to their home port Munising, so they’re constantly on the go during fishing season. On the 360 mile round trips to Keweenaw Bay, they start at 3 a.m. and try to be back to Munising with the iced day’s catch before night fall. They hope to haul in enough prized Lake Superior whitefish to cover their fuel and other costs. The boats get only a mile per gallon and.those costs have been rising faster than the price they get for their fish. It’s a close call sometimes, but when fishing is good, the weather is fair, and the price of fish is reasonable….it’s hard to beat. The VanLandschoots’ hard and sometimes hazardous work pays off with benefits not measured in money. Paul says his physician recommends the fresh air and physical exercise for his health, perhaps a bit enviously because the doctor’s work keeps him in an office or the hospital. They plan to keep the business going as long as they can. One question they, and many fishing families, face is whether the business will go into another generation. It’s hard to say because, like so many others in commercial fishing, they’ve encouraged their children to develop interests and pursue education that have taken them away from their home port…for now. The business succession plan is always a work in progress. This story posted in Fishing Families on Great Lakes Whitefish website (view PDF version of original web content). This profile is also published online by the Michigan Fish Producers Association (‘The Fishermen’ ).
