Fishing the Great Lakes: An Environmental History, 1783–1933

10. The Fish React: Changing Species in Changing Waters

10 The Fish React Changing Species in Changing Waters The Danger Line ofDestruction . .. Is Being Approached No one will ever know the number of fish species that vanished from the waters of the Great Lakes in the wake of growing population density, development, and commercial fishing. Undoubtedly, many did, some of them gone before anyone recorded their existence. An idea of the magnitude of loss may be inferred from M. B. Trautman's study of decline in the Sandusky River. Between 1850 and 1976, over half of eighty-eight species had either declined markedly or disappeared. In his report on the Great Lakes fishing industry, published in 1926, Walter Koelz assessed the losses since the mid-nineteenth century in leading commercial species: "We are faced with the extermination of the sturgeon in all the lakes, of the bluefin in Lake Superior, the blackfin in Lake Michigan, and the bloater in Lake Ontario, and with the reduction of the whitefish from first place in abundance in 1880 to fourth place in 1922." He should have added the Salrno salar of Lake Ontario, decimated sixty years earlier. Without doubt, great changes had occurred, and more came shortly. Here the discussion of changing fish populations in changing waters focuses on three main topics: change in the populations of the major commercial species, lake whitefish, trout, herring, and sturgeon; the impact of intruded species; and the interaction among the varied species during the nineteenth century. By the end of the 1920s, the close of the first phase in the history of the Great Lakes fisheries was imminent.1 149 PART II. A DEVELOPING DRAINAGE BASIN, 1815-1900 Figure 10:1. Lake whitefish (Coregonus c1upeaformis). (Drawing by Christine Kohler; courtesy University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute) THE BIG FOUR OF COMMERCIAL FISHING: LAKE WHITEFISH, TROUT, HERRING, AND STURGEON Lake Whitefish: Gregarious and Delectable When in 1820 Henry Schoolcraft led an exploring party through the Great Lakes searching for the source of the Mississippi River, he marveled at the variety and the delicacy of the fish at Mackinac Island. "Of these," he noted, "the white fish is most esteemed for the richness and delicacy of its flavour, and there is a universal acquiescence in the opinion formerly advanced by Charlevoix, 'that whether fresh or salted, nothing of the fish kind, can excel it'" (figure 10.1). This high praise expressed the sentiments of scores of Native Americans, explorers, fur traders, and missionaries of the wilderness era and of those who came into the Great Lakes region in succeeding centuries. Older Michigan settlers looked forward to the opening of the fishing season and a taste of whitefish, "dainty fare;' according to Bella Hubbard, the state's pioneer geologist, in 1880. Marine biologist James W. Milner reported in 1872 that travelers from the eastern United States gave Lake Superior whitefish very high marks. They were best when taken fresh from the water and broiled. Few went as far as a Georgian Bay fisherman who under oath, in 1893, told investigators for the Dominion Fishery Commission: "I prefer whitefish as best. I eat them constantly."2 The excellence of whitefish as food made them the most sought after commercial species of the Great Lakes, a preference also noted among the fishers who harvested the freshwaters of northern Europe and Asia. Both Milner and Hubbard believed that these fish could not survive the 150 The Fish React Table 10.1. Lake whitefish production from the Great Lakes, 1879-1899 (in thousands of pounds) Lake Lake Lake Lake Lake Lake Year Ontario Erie St. Clair Huron Michigan Superior Total 1879 1,851 3,537 273 4,289 12,030 2,356 24,336 1885 451 3,718 98 4,080 8,653 5,178 22,178 1889 470 3,630 295 7,605 5,524 4,795 22,319 1890 553 2,546 269 6,974 4,564 4,192 19,098 1893 415 1,549 50 5,449 2,446 3,068 12,977 1897 474 1,044 48 1,951 3,345 2,124 8,986 1899 422 2,584 9 2,461 1,770 1,756 9,002 Source: Compiled from Norman S. Baldwin, Robert W. Saalfeld, Margaret A. Ross, and Howard J. Buettner, Commercial Fish Production in the Great Lakes. 1867-1977. Technical Report no. 3 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Great Lakes Fishery Commission, 1979). Note: The figures for Lake St. Clair include those for the...