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Lake whitefish continue to be a premium
eating fish of the Great lakes and a corner stone of commercial fisheries for
more than a century. Recent landings continue to be some of the highest on
record for the main basin, North channel and outer Saginaw Bay. The Georgian
Bay fishery is still recovering.
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Deepwater ciscoes, bloaters, are the
main inhabitant of the deeper waters of the lake and the only form still
abundant. The other deepwater form, the shortjaw, is now probably extinct.
Bloater numbers have declined recently from
the high levels noted through the 1980s and early 1990s but the
population is still considered robust.
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Lake herring numbers have not recovered
in the main basin.They have been replaced by alewives and smelt. They were a
historically valuable food fish and prey species. Some populations persist in
the northern portion of the lake and its hoped they may be the basis of a
future recovery for this species..
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