The Deliberate Death Of The Michigan Commercial Fishing Industry

It’s taken 50 years. The State of Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources features a published strategy and policymaking that has effectively curtailed commercial fishing in Michigan to the brink of extinction. A trio of bills now into account within the Michigan legislature could, if passed, be the ultimate act that would eliminate the 13 remaining family-owned commercial fishing businesses within the state. the opposite fallout of this trio of bills could effectively eliminate the power of fish-loving consumers in Michigan to get locally harvested fish.

A set of bills now into account in Michigan’s legislature House Bills 4567, 4568, and 4569 would increase fines, impose new reporting requirements, hike license fees, and extend bans on commercial fishermen from taking specific species of fish in Michigan waters. The set of bills was intended to update government regulation that stretches as far back because of the 1920s. Our analysis of the effect of them passing could devastate this small group of Michigan family companies.

The key provisions of House Bills 4567, 4568, and 4569 are as follows:
Ban commercial fishermen from taking Perch in Saginaw Bay. Commercial fishermen are already banned from harvesting walleye and lake trout. The walleye ban continues whilst Saginaw Bay is seeing record total harvest numbers walleye taken by sports fishermen.

The perch ban on Saginaw Bay would impact five commercial fishing operations, including Bay Port Fish Company. These fishermen have had a license to reap Perca flavescens since 1968. they provide restaurants and offer perch to consumers at their own retail stores and at the Port Austin Farmers and Detroit’s Eastern Markets. The proposed bills wouldn't reimburse the five fishermen for the loss of the licenses. Native American tribes who currently harvest walleye and perch aren't suffering from the bills.

The bills impose strict new fines and even jail time for commercial fishermen who abandon their nets and kit. Folks are scratching their heads over this provision. Each net is tagged with the owner’s name and nets cost over $10,000 apiece to exchange. It’s highly unlikely that such an important, and expensive tool utilized to reap fish would be purposely abandoned. [ Read more about the Planned Demise of the 13 Remaining Commercial Fishing Operations in Michigan]

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