'Some fish are going to win, and some lose' according to Lake Michigan fisheries expert

'Some fish are going to win, and some lose' according to Lake Michigan fisheries expert

Source: wuwm

6/8/2022

Credit: Titus Seilheimer / Wisconsin Sea Grant

Commercial fishing and charter boat fishing are a large part of Wisconsin's economy. The industry is heavily dependent on the health of Lake Michigan and its fisheries. But they've been buffeted by invasive species over the past 70 years.

First by sea lamprey that entered the Great Lakes basin through the Erie Canal, which by the 1950s the lamprey had taken hold throughout the basin, decimating native fish species. Alewife was another. Those two “invasions,” along with overfishing, nearly wiped out native lake trout.