Great Lakes Commercial Fishery

At one time the Great Lakes were an isolated environment. Because of the extraordinary fall line of the Niagara River, no species of fish that had not been in the Great Lakes at the retreat of the glaciers could enter the lakes from an ocean or river. The fish population included lake trout, whitefish, lake herring, seven species of lake chub, yellow perch, sturgeon, shiner, sucker, burbot, round whitefish, and sculpin. The French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, observed Native Americans fishing for whitefish. The Native Americans used nets, weirs to trap migratory fish, and, particularly on rapids or falls entering the lakes, dip nets. They favored large trout, walleye (yellow pike), and sturgeon.