Journal of Beaver Island History, Vol 1-5
This is a five volume book series (1976 to 2002) that offers histories and essays from Beaver Island. Of interest and relating to fisheries heritage are: The Rise and Fall of the Fishing Industry (by William Cashman, V1, p69) The Last Days of the Fishing Business (by F.E. Martin, V4, P191) The Fisherman’s Daughter (by Mike Lozon, V5, p105) Regulation of Commercial Fishing (by Dan VandenHeede (V5, p71) Skillagalee (by Richard Dietrich, V3, p59) Volumes of these books can be purchased through the Beaver Island Historical Society; and at the Beaver Island Marine Museum bookstore.
Fish For All
Fish For All An Oral History of Multiple Claims and Divided Sentiment on Lake Michigan by Michael J. Chiarappa, and Kristin M. Szylvian Book description provided by Michigan State University Press, as follows: The contentious claims of groups seeking to use Lake Michigan’s fisheries resources were at the center of modern America’s emerging environmental politics in the middle of the twentieth century. Inheriting the environmental abuse, political oversights, and cultural inclinations of an earlier era, Lake Michigan’s later twentieth century fisheries stakeholders found themselves relentlessly divided by a series of disputes arising from the promotion of sport fishing over commercial fishing, policy-making positions of state government, the ecological changes wrought by nonindigenous species, and the reclamation of treaty-rights fishing by Native Americans. Going beyond the chronicling of past events, Fish for Allcontextualizes the shared experiences that shape each group’s collective memory and presents their historical narratives as discourse that legitimizes their current claims to the resource. Fish for All highlights the historically charged consciousness of fishing communities and points to the evolving communication that will take place between them, fisheries historians, fisheries anthropologists, scientists, and policymakers. Subjects: Natural Resources | History Publication Date: April 30th, 2003 731 pages| 6 in x 9 in Michigan State University Press
We’re All Brothers Out There
This book summarized oral histories from the Leland Fishery at Fishtown (1940-2006), by Amanda Holmes and Daniel Stewart Published by Fishtown Preservation Society (2009), this book serves as a published report prepared for NOAA/NMFS Office of Sustainable Fisheries, NOAA Michigan Sea Grant Program, and the Fishtown Preservation Society. Contents of book includes illustrations, maps, and many great images. Chapters include voices from Fishtown fishers, past and present, on these topics: Instability in the System – The Changing Biology of the Lake Michigan Fishery An Unfair Deal – Government Actions in the Lake Michigan Fishery A Lot of Misconceptions – The Recognition of Tribal Fishing Rights Born into you – Commercial Fishing on Lake Michigan They’re Going to Catch Fish – Sportfishing on Lake Michigan It’s Still Fishtown – Fishtown, the Place
Evelyn S. Still Making History – Great Lakes Fisheries Heritage Trail article
April 22, 2016 – Author: Dan O’Keefe, Michigan State University Extension, Michigan Sea Grant, and Ashley M. Deming, Michigan Maritime Museum Evelyn S., above, in her new role as an educational exhibit at Michigan Maritime Museum. Below shown in 1950. Photo: Michigan Maritime Museum. A new Great Lakes Fisheries Heritage Trail offers opportunity to explore the past, present and future of the lakes through the lens of fish and fishing (See Part 1, series introduction). In this article, we visit South Haven and the Michigan Maritime Museum to explore commercial fishing heritage of west Michigan as told through the historic commercial fishing vessel, Evelyn S. The Evelyn S. was built in 1939 by Sturgeon Bay Boat Works William Selman Fisheries of Manistique, Mich. She fits the typical wooden gill net fish tug design so prevalent on the waters during this period. Measuring 50 feet long with a 13-foot beam, Evelyn S. also boasts a 3-cylinder Kahlenburg diesel engine (much like the engine aboard the Katherine V. at the Besser Museum in Alpena, Mich.). To extend the life of the vessel, Evelyn S. was also sheathed in steel with a completely enclosed deck to protect her crew against the frozen waters of Lake Michigan. In 1943, Evelyn S. was sold to a commercial fishing company in Frankfort, Mich. Commercial fishing was part of a thriving diverse maritime economy on Lake Michigan from the 1860s to the 1970s,and the Evelyn S. plied the waters of Lake Michigan bringing in catches that helped make local communities such as South Haven flourish. She fished until 1952 when she was sold to a Muskegon towing company. In 1979, the founder of the Michigan Maritime Museum realized the importance of this vessel as an example of a dwindling aspect of the diverse maritime economy and acquired Evelyn S. She soon became a main attraction as an on-water exhibit for the museum in South Haven. After 40 years of serving as a working vessel, Evelyn S. now serves as an educational tool to represent these once common vessels and the important impact they had on local communities. In the early 1980s, the Evelyn S. was restored by the museum as a land-based exhibit after a sinking incident at the museum dock. In 2014 and 2015, Evelyn S. was again restored after the City of South Haven and the museum were awarded a grant from the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Coastal Zone Management Program which was coupled with local funds and volunteer efforts toward this restoration. Evelyn S. was moved to her permanent home on the museum campus and anchored in place. The restoration work, which included making the boat watertight and removing dry rot, was undertaken by Great Lakes Boat Building School graduate Hans Wagner and others. Sanding and painting efforts were conducted by volunteers and museum interns. The interior exhibit will feature commercial fishing artifacts and historic photos for visitors to explore. On the exterior, there is a technology station that features an interactive touch screen that allows visitors to watch this video about commercial fishing and Evelyn S. The restoration and exhibit is scheduled to open May 1, 2016. In addition to a public exhibit, Evelyn S. is also being used in a variety of new educational programming at the museum. In 2015 museum staff worked with Michigan Sea Grant to develop a lesson plan that targeted 3rd through 5th grades. This interactive lesson focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) themes, introducing students to commercial fishing and the changes to the industry over time. The activity touches on invasive species, technological changes, and economic and environmental impacts. Evelyn S. plays an important role in bringing these themes to life for the students. The museum’s 2015 STEM Summer Camp piloted a commercial fishing education program that incorporated this lesson plan, a tour of Evelyn S., and a tour aboard Elsie J., a converted commercial fishing tug owned by the Jensen family who operated a fishery in South Haven until the 1980s. The museum is also working with the South Haven Public School District to develop an educational program around commercial fishing for the 6th grade in which Evelyn S. will play a crucial role. The Michigan Maritime Museum is proud to have Evelyn S. as a part of the Great Lakes Fisheries Heritage Trail linking these vessels and commercial fishing heritage across land and water. Informational signage will be installed in the spring of 2016 to highlight the trail, the history of commercial fishing and Evelyn S., as well as all of the donors, sponsors, and volunteers that made her restoration possible. For more information on Evelyn S. and the museum visit www.michiganmaritimemuseum.org. Michigan Sea Grant helps to foster economic growth and protect Michigan’s coastal, Great Lakes resources through education, research and outreach. A collaborative effort of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University and its MSU Extension, Michigan Sea Grant is part of the NOAA-National Sea Grant network of 33 university-based programs. Read the Fisheries Heritage Trail Series: Part 1- People, fish, and fishing Part 2 – Katherine V. This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).
Maritime South Haven, 1900-1950
Maritime South Haven: 1900-1950 By Michigan Maritime Museum (2004) Book (chapter 5) features commercial fishing in South Haven, including images of fish, fishermen, and commercial fishing vessels. Full book description is provided by Arcadia Publishing, as follows: The period between 1900 and 1950 was a time of great change for the small lakeside village of South Haven. During this pivotal era, the town was transformed from a rough commercial port into a beautiful tourist attraction. Although South Haven is now entirely a recreational harbor, this compilation of archival photographs provides a glimpse of an earlier time when shipments of coal, stone, pig iron, paper pulp, and clay came to port instead of pleasure boaters. Showcasing the remarkable photography of Roy S. McCrimmon, Maritime South Haven: 1900–1950 documents South Haven’s nautical heritage with images of large foreign freighters, hardy fish tugs, bustling passenger steamers, carefree pleasure cruisers, and sprightly sailboats.
Fishtown – Leland Michigan’s Historic Fishery
Fishtown: Leland, Michigan’s History Fishery This book by author Laurie Kay Sommers, tells the story of this beloved place’s past and present through the remembrances of the commercial fishermen and ferry captains who have worked out of Fishtown for well over a century. There are harrowing tales of rough seas, near misses and devastating losses, and the reasons why so many fishermen would choose this life all over again. She also shares the story of a community determined not to lose this historic and picturesque attraction, and the successful efforts of a non-profit organization to purchase and care for a key portion of Fishtown. Numerous photographs of Fishtown illustrate the text. Fishtown: Leland, Michigan’s Historic Fishery is available for $19.95 at the Fishtown Preservation office (231-256-8878 / 203 E Cedar Street, Leland), the Fishtown Welcome Center in Fishtown.
The River Runs Through It
This book is a report on historic structure and site design in the Fishtown cultural landscape (Leland, Mich., Summer 2011) Authors include Laurie Kay Sommers (Cultural Consulting), Eugene Hopkins (FAIA), Evan Hall (AIA), Mark Johnson (ASLA) and Jessica Neafsey (ALSA). published 2011 by Fishtown Preservation Society. Book and report include following content: Summary Overview of Fishtown History Summary Site Recommendations Significance Statement Fishtown Period of Significance, 1903-1960 Fishtown Preservation Society Mission Statement Methodology: The Fishtown Model Project Data, Report Participants, and previous Research and Studies Developmental History Chronology of Development Treatment and Work Recommendations Additional copies of report may be available from Fishtown Preservation Society.
Lixey Fisheries, Family History
This history of the Lixey family fishery in Iosco County is summarized by the Iosco County Historical Museum (updated 5/8/2015). Summary is as follows: Joseph Alex Soudriette was the son of Alexander Soudriette whose grandfather was born near the River Raisin in 1724. Alexander was married to Elizabeth Campeau, niece of Joseph Compeau of Detroit history, and had a trading post near what is now Bay City. The Indians had trouble pronouncing Soudriette and used the name Lexy for Alexander and thus the name Lixey was born. Joseph began fishing in Saginaw Bay in the late 1840’s. Some years later he moved to the mouth of the AuSable River, where a fishing settlement had sprung up, and began fishing there in 1860. Cotton gill nets were used in those days and were laboriously made by hand during the winter months. They were set and lifted by sailboat. The fish (whitefish, lake trout, herring, and pickerel) were salted and shipped to market by lake going schooners. Henry Lixey joined his father in fishing in 1887. He moved to the East Tawas area in 1897 where he began his own fishing company and had two Indians in his employ. Pound or ‘pond’ nets were now in use. They were made of cotton twine which had to be treated with tar to prevent rotting and were held in place by long poles driven into the lake bottom. Boats with engines came into use shortly after 1900 and the fish were iced and shipped to such distant markets as New York by train. In 1926, Henry with brother John, son Ralph and Eli Herrick, formed a new fish company in East Tawas located at the end of Alice Street. In 1932 , they began using the submarine trap net They were constructed with ‘pots’ which trapped the fish and allowed them to swim freely. Whitefish spawn had been saved by the fishermen and was used by the Alpena hatcheries to restock the lake annually as since the 1890’s they had already shown signs of depletion. After 1932 this practice was terminated and the whitefish catch fell off drastically. There were at this time 13 major fishing companies and several smaller ones from the losco County line to Oscoda. These folded rapidly and by 1950 were out of business. In 1957 , Richter and Donald Lixey, sons of Henry , formed their own company, and with a third brother, Mervin, resumed the family occupation. They built their nets of nylon twine which did not require tarring or coppering and lasted indefinitely. Whitefish were still not plentiful and the catches were modest. The pollution of Saginaw Bay, the whitefish spawning grounds, and the infiltration of the lamphrey eel through the St. Lawrence Seaway was blamed for this. In 1978, the use of gill nets, which kill all fish becoming entangled in their meshes, became outlawed. Another method was sought to catch the round whitefish or menominees for which the gill net was successful. Donald Lixey designed a trap net under the supervision of the Federal Sea Grant biologists from the University of Michigan. This net uses a much smaller mesh and has proved to be very successful as well, catching perch and whitefish, also with no damage to undersized fish which can be returned to the water. They have also developed their own retail and wholesale marketing and rarely ship to city markets. Richter Lixey died in 1980 leaving Don and Mervin to continue until Mervin died in the 90’s. In the present day Don Lixey continues the company and enjoys working in the market. Whitefish, menominee, and perch as well as salmon (purchased from Indians) are sold at the market. This long time family business will probably come to a close when Don decides to quit as none of the younger generation has been interested in continuing. The Lixey Fisheries have long been part of the growth and development of losco County but in today’s fast paced world operational costs, long hours, hazards of the sea and low profits do not make fishing an attractive occupation for the new generation. Information furnished by the Lixey family, a name and industry woven into the history of losco County.
The Pivotal Moment for the Carlsons
By virtue of longevity and survival, the Carlsons are synonymous with Fishtown in Leland, Michigan. The Carlsons trace their local roots to the early 1900s, when Swedish immigrant Nels Carlson (1854-1935) moved his family from North Manitou Island to become the first Carlson to fish out of Leland. Well over a century later, a fifth generation of Carlsons are still part of Fishtown’s commercial fishing operations. That long family history, however, almost ended prematurely with an unprecedented tragedy. Nels’ eldest son Will followed in his footsteps as a fisherman, as did Will’s own son Lester, known as Pete. Will and Pete met as usual on the Fishtown docks on August 5, 1941, and set out together on the gill-netter Diamond for 16 Fathom Shoal, two hours away — one of the traditional fishing grounds farthest from port. Diamond, like its fellow fishing tugs, had replaced the sails of the earliest generation of fishing boats with a gasoline engine, but like the earlier boats it had been built locally of wood. The fishermen needed no reminding about the dangers of running a gasoline engine (and in the cold weather a coal- or wood-fired stove for heat) on a wood boat. Will’s first tug, Leland, had burned and sunk off Fishtown in 1916, and when Wolverine burned to the railings, father and son Oscar and Vero Price had been forced into the water. Still, Fishtown had never lost a fisherman to fire or drowning. But that August morning, Pete smelled gasoline. He checked the tank first, then the engine, and discovered the gasoline line had broken near the carburetor. Just as he reached to shut off the fuel, the engine backfired, igniting a fire in the boat. Reacting quickly, they sprayed the fire extinguisher on the flames, dousing the fire — until the extinguisher sputtered empty. “We had one fire extinguisher,” Pete recalled, “[but] it doesn’t do any good to put water on gas. So there wasn’t anything we could do to put it out. We decided that we’d have to take to the water, my father and I, which we did, with two life preservers. The boat drifted away from us, and we started out for North [Manitou] Island” — eight miles away. Fishtown fisherman Roy Buckler was also near 16 Fathom Shoal that day. “Pete and his dad caught fire there about fifteen minutes from where we were,” he said, “but we never saw anything. If we were going the other way, we would have seen it. We couldn’t figure out why Pete didn’t come [back]. We didn’t use radios until the 1950s. You just kept track of everybody.” Battling exhausting and hypothermia, they tried to keep up their spirits by talking about the future and planning their new boat, but at midday, after eight hours in the water, Will fell silent. “My father died from exposure,” Pete said. “I kept him with me.” Pete carried his father in his arms. After seven more hours, the South Manitou Coast Guard boat appeared. He tried to attract their attention. When he failed, he had to let his father go. What Pete didn’t know was that there were more boats out on the water, looking for them. Pete’s wife, Rita, became concerned when the Diamond failed to return and called the Coast Guard station in Traverse City for a search plane. The man who could authorize the plane wasn’t there. “So the fish boats were out looking for him,” Rita said. “Everybody took some liquor with them, because they thought if they were in the water, his dad and my husband Lester [Pete], they’d have something to give them. About four o’clock in the morning, I think it was, Marvie Cook and Percy Guthrie [ran] him down. They had drunk the liquor, and they were going right towards him. The moon was up, and Marvie says, ‘See that path of light there? Let’s follow that.’ And they saw him in that path of light from the moon.” After his ordeal Pete Carlson didn’t know if he wanted to continue fishing. “He was sick for a long time over that,” Rita remembered. “He had carbuncles on his arms and hands. He was waking up at night, and he was always swimming. He thought he was going to make it to the island, but the current carried him out, because that’s what he did do. He had nightmares.” It was a pivotal moment in Fishtown’s history. In spite of all the close calls on the lake, the fishermen had always soldiered on. Never before had one of their own drowned while fishing. At the tail end of the Depression, money for a new boat was tight. But when Pete learned that the community was raising money to buy him another boat, he mustered the will to make a trial run to see if he could handle being back on the lake. “He went out with Roy Buckler,” Rita remembered. “He went out a couple times, and he settled down, so he figured he could do it. And that’s how he went back to fishing with Gordon Carlson [his uncle], and Louis Steffens.” The new boat was built in Omena by John A. Johnson. “We called him Big John,” Rita recalled. “He was a big guy. And it was launched in Omena harbor there.” Rita chose the name Good Will to honor both Will Carlson and “the good will of the people that got it for us.” In a community that has known its share of heartache and close calls, this particular story has become Fishtown’s formative narrative. It is the story of a son’s terrible choice and his incredible strength of spirit and body. “My dad holds the lake’s survival time record,” Pete’s son Bill Carlson once told the Detroit News, “and if it weren’t for his rugged constitution I wouldn’t be here today.” It is also the story of a community’s resolve to buy Pete Carlson a new boat and invest in
Four Fs of Fish, Communicating the Public Value of Fish and Fisheries
Journal article describes ‘Four Fs’ of fish (Food, Fun, Finances, and Ecological Function) published in Fisheries (journal of American Fisheries Society), written by Abigail Lynch and William Taylor (Vol 32(1) Jan 2013). Click Here to read copy of this article as published in Fisheries.
