Boom, Bust, and try to Adjust

James Nevin, Wisconsin Commissioner of Fisheries, said in 1921 that planting millions of fish and regulating size limits, daily catches, and seasons would help maintain the fish supply for the future. The area's greatest growth in commercial fishing began in 1870 when the N. and F. Boutin fishing company moved to Bayfield, and after A. Booth and Sons moved operations there in 1885, Bayfield had 182 fishermen, more than any other port on Lake Superior. Intense fishing pressure caused sharp declines in whitefish populations in the 1890s: Bayfield fishermen caught more than two million pounds of whitefish in 1885 but only sixty-one thousand pounds in 1899. Concern over declining fish numbers led Wisconsin to create its first regulations in 1879, setting minimum mesh sizes for nets and minimum weights for fish to be sold, and in 1891 the state established seasonal fishing closures for lake trout and whitefish. Commercial fishermen were first required to buy state fishing licenses in 1909. The Wisconsin Fish Commission began stocking whitefish in Lake Superior in 1885 and opened the state fish hatchery south of Bayfield in 1898. Fishermen first found the non-native parasitic sea lamprey in Lake Superior in 1938, and lamprey control efforts began in 1953. The lake trout catch in Bayfield stayed at about 500,000 pounds a year through 1955, then dropped dramatically, leading the state to halt commercial fishing for lake trout from 1962 to 1967, impose strict quotas, and in 1970 limit Lake Superior commercial fishing licenses to 21. The number of licenses for non-tribal fishermen fell to ten in 1997 to provide more fish for sportsmen and allocate half the annual catch to tribal fishermen. Indigenous people fished for subsistence in Lake Superior for centuries and always played a significant role in the area's commercial fishing industry. In the 20th century, enforcement of state fishing laws conflicted with rights reserved by the Chippewa in treaties with the U.S. government, and in 1969 members of the Red Cliff and Bad River bands were arrested for setting nets in Lake Superior off the reservation without a license to challenge state laws. In State v. Gurnoe, the Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed in 1972 the treaty rights of Lake Superior Chippewa to fish in Lake Superior.

Russell, Wisconsin · United States