Weight Conventions (Round or Dressed) by Jurisdiction and Lake

The production records up through 1977 as listed here and in Technical Report 3 are not all in round weights. This discrepancy is a problem especially for chubs, whitefish, and lake trout. Other species can be treated as having round weights throughout the database, although this convention should be recognized as an approximation. We suggest treating all chub weights before 1978 as being dressed (x 1.20 for conversion to round weight). Lake whitefish catches are a mixture of round and dressed weights before 1978. There is no simple way to correct the discrepancy. Lake whitefish caught in impoundment gear were generally sold in the round and gill-netted fish were sold dressed. The user needs to know how the fishery was conducted in each lake and jurisdiction to make corrections (x 1.17), if desired. Gill nets were the dominant gear for taking lake trout and the bulk of the catch through 1977 was dressed (x 1.25).

After 1977 all Canadian catches were corrected to round weights. Differences among states in reporting round/dressed weights after 1977 are as follows:

The state data for Lake Superior are an exception—from 1995 onward they were not corrected. The post-1977 conventions for states are based on a survey conducted in 1994 by the Great Lakes Science Center. These conventions too should be viewed as approximations.


Back to Commercial Fish Production


GLFC logo GLFC Home Page