Unharvested Fishes In the U.S. Commercial Fishery 

 of Western Lake Erie in 1969' 



HARRY D. VAN METERS 



ABSTRACT 



Potential commercial fish production was estimated for U.S. waters of western Lake Erie 

 in 1969 from pounds landed and pounds discarded. Periodic observations of catches in haul 

 seines and trap nets revealed that about 37% of the catch (by weight) in haul seines and 26% 

 of that in trap nets were low-value fishes that were discarded. Projection of these discarded 

 catches to include the total fishing effort indicated that an additional 2.8 million lb of low- 

 value species would have been landed in 1969 if a reasonable profit had been assurred. It is 

 concluded that the sustained yield could be increased considerably with only a moderate in- 

 crease in fishing effort. 



INTRODUCTION 



A .sizable percentage of the U.S. commercial 

 fish catch in western Lake Erie is discarded and 

 returned to the lake each year because market 

 demand is lacking or the profit margin is too 

 small. As early as 1955, the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries (now the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service) investigated new markets 

 for underutilized fish from Lake Erie (Premetz, 

 1956). Emphasis in earlier years was on the 

 development of markets in the fur farm and 

 pet food industries as outlets for such low-value 

 species as freshwater drum {Aplodinotus grun- 

 niens), gizzard shad {Dorosoma cepedianum.) , 

 carp (Cyprinus carpio) , and go\dfish (Carassins 

 aurahis)'. Recently, certain commercial inter- 

 ests have explored the possibility of using these 

 fish for fish meal and other industrial products. 



Greater market expansion is not the real crux 

 of the problem confronting the fishermen today. 

 Rather, there is a need to develop low-cost meth- 

 ods of harvesting and processing the less de- 

 sirable species in sufficient volume to provide 

 a competitive product in existing markets. 



' Contribution 469, Great Lakes Fishery Laboratory, 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ann Arbor, MI 48107. 



' U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sandusky Biological 

 Station, Sandusky, OH 44870. 



' Common and scientific names of fishes mentioned 

 in the text are those adopted by Bailey (1970). 



A questionnaire survey in the 1950's revealed 

 that Ohio commercial fishermen believed that 

 the potential annual production of low-value 

 species was more than 25 million lb. They es- 

 timated that 15 million lb were available in 

 Sandusky Bay alone (Jones, 1960). These fig- 

 ures are still quoted by fishermen and biologists, 

 in the absence of specific data on population den- 

 sities of Lake Erie fishes. 



In 1969 I attempted to determine the mag- 

 nitude and species composition of the discarded 

 portion of the U.S. catch from the principal 

 gears employed in the western basin of Lake 

 Erie. Data were collected on landed and dis- 

 carded catches from 14 seine hauls in Sandusky 

 Bay and 226 trap net lifts off Bono and San- 

 dusky, Ohio. Catch data were then compared 

 with the 1969 commercial production from the 

 western basin and projected to estimate the po- 

 tential take of these unharvested fish and the 

 loss of revenue through lack of market demand 

 or a suitable profit margin. 



Several Lake Erie species, including walleye 

 (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum), yellow perch 

 (Perca flavescens), white bass (Morone chry- 

 sops) , and channel catfish (Ictalurus pnnctatus) , 

 are taken by both the commercial and sport fish- 

 eries in the w-estern basin. Other select species 

 sometimes caught by commercial gear are classi- 



