The trout-perch is an important forage fish 

 that was abundant in Green Bay. It occurred in 

 32 percent of the drags, and its overall catch 

 rate was 2 pounds per drag. One large catch 

 of 100 pounds was made at 8 fathoms off 

 Sturgeon Bay. Trout-perch occurred at depths 

 from 4 to 20 fathoms. 



Spottail shiner is another forage fish that was 

 caught in nearly a quarter of all trawl drags. 

 It has no commercial importance except as a 

 bait minnow. Spottail shiners were most abun- 

 dant at the 5-fathom interval, and 97 percent 

 were taken in 12 fathoms or less. The largest 

 catch was 130 pounds in a 20-minute drag at 

 7 fathoms south of Oconto, Wis. 



Whitefish were taken in 32 catches but never 

 in commercial quantities. The largest catch 

 was only 12 pounds, and the average catch for 

 effective effort was only 4 pounds. Seventy-one 

 percent of the whitefish landing was taken at 

 the 10-fathom interval. 



Sculpins composed a small portion of the 

 trawl catch, and over half the sculpin catches 

 were a pound or less. The largest landing of 

 sculpins was only 30 pounds. Sculpins were 

 taken at depths from 11 to 20 fathoms; 95 

 percent of the catch were taken at the 15- and 

 20-fathom intervals. 



Chubs, an important species to bottom 

 trawling in Lake Michigan, appeared very in- 

 frequently in Green Bay trawl catches. They 

 were taken in only 16 drags at an average 

 catch for effective effort of 6-1/2 pounds. The 

 catches ranged from one individual to 25 

 pounds per drag. Chubs were taken by bottom 

 trawling only in northern Green Bay and only 

 during late June through August. Chubs were 

 taken at depths from 7 to 20 fathoms, although 

 57 percent were taken at the 20-fathom inter- 

 val. 



The remaining species taken in trawls gen- 

 erally occurred as individxials or in very 

 small amounts. Burbot were taken in 14 drags 

 in various areas of Green Bay at depths from 

 4 to 17 fathoms. The largest catch of burbot 

 was 13 pounds. Lake herring were found also 

 throughout the bay but were more common in 

 the northern half. The largest catch of lake 

 herring was only 4 pounds, but most of the 

 catches contained only one lake herring. Bull- 

 heads were in 10 trawl catches in amounts 

 ranging from one bullhead to 5 poxinds. Bull- 

 heads were taken only in southern Green Bay 

 at depths from 5 to 15 fathoms. Two drags 



Table 6. — Catehes of adult sea lampreys in exploratory trawl drags 

 in Green Bay, 1963-65 



made at 15 and 8 fathoms off Sturgeon Bay, 

 Wis., had 3 and 10 pounds of creek chubs. 

 Sticklebacks occurred in six drags, primarily 

 in northern Green Bay at depths from 5 to 17 

 fathoms. Eight northern pike were captured 

 in four drags during cruise 30 at depths from 

 11 to 13 fathoms. Fresh-water sheepshead 

 were taken in four drags in the southern por- 

 tion at depths from 5 to 15 fathoms. Five re- 

 cently planted lake trout from 7,2 to 10,4 inches 

 long were caught in northern Green Bay in 

 1965, One walleye was taken in 4 fathoms in 

 the extreme southern portion of the bay. One 

 channel catfish was taken in 8 fathoms off 

 Sturgeon Bay, Eight adult sea lampreys were 

 captured during the summer of 1963 at depths 

 from 6 to 16 fathoms (table 6). 



Four of the above miscellaneous species, 

 northern pike, lake trout, walleye, and channel 

 catfish, are also important game fish. These 

 four species were taken in only nine drags and 

 are not available to effective commercial 

 harvesting with the bottom trawl. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Bottom trawling in Green Bay is feasible on 

 a commercial scale. Much of Green Bay has 

 suitable trawling bottom--gear was damaged 

 only on 5 percent of all drags. The composition 

 of the total trawl catch by weight was 76.2 

 percent alewife, 10.7 percent smelt, 5.3 per- 

 cent suckers, 4,9 percent carp, 0,8 percent 

 yellow perch, and 2,1 percent other species. 

 Commercial quantities of alewives were taken 

 on every cruise between June and December, 

 Alewives move out of the relatively shallow 

 waters of Green Bay in January and do not 

 return until May, Smelt were available in suf- 

 ficient quantities to harvest commercially with 

 the bottom trawl. Suckers and carp were taken 



