LIFE LINE Fishtown explores commercial fishing apprenticeship program

from TCBN March 2023

WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

By Craig Manning

How do you keep an industry alive when even the people who carry that industry in their blood aren’t making a true living at it?

That’s a question the Fishtown Preservation Society has been trying to find an answer for over the past several years, as commercial fishing in Leland – and throughout the Great Lakes – has floundered.

But could an in-the-works apprenticeship program help inject some new energy and innovation into the commercial fishing economy?

Amanda Holmes, executive director of the Fishtown Preservation Society, teased the prospect of apprenticeships to TCBN sister publication the Leelanau

Ticker at the end of the last year, highlighting the possibility in Fishtown’s ongoing efforts to educate locals and visitors about fishing history, culture, and economic impact in northern Michigan.

While Fishtown has always been a hub of knowledge and history around fishing, Holmes touted apprenticeships as a chance to boost the industry.

“One of the challenges of commercial fishermen around the Great Lakes is that you don’t have enough people who know how to do the work,” Holmes said in December.

Holmes is working with Michigan

Sea Grant to develop an apprenticeship program, which would take a handful of people each year.

Apprentices would learn how to weld and repair engines, fishery management and “(get) a better understanding of why this industry works the way it does,” she said.

While many industries continue to struggle with hiring in northern Michigan, the fishing economy’s issues go deeper than simple COVID-era labor challenges. From invasive species that have changed the dynamics of local fish populations to state rules that heavily restrict the types of fish commercial fishers are even allowed to go after, making a living in the world of commercial fishing is no easy feat.

According to Holmes, the primary challenge in Fishtown is that the two fishing vessels owned by the Fishtown Preservation Society – the Joy and the Janice Sue – are limited in what they can catch. The Joy is only licensed to go after whitefish, while the Janice Sue can only catch chub, which Holmes calls “nonexistent.”

“I know there are a few spots in the Great Lakes where they’re being caught,” she said, “(but) if someone is wanting a Chubby Mary (the iconic Bloody Mary served by The Cove in Fishtown), those actually are Great Lakes chub, and they’re caught by a fisherman I know personally.

“But The Cove doesn’t like to make it known where they get this chub, because there just aren’t very many of them out there.”

Due to the chub shortage, Holmes said the Janice Sue effectively cannot be viable as an operational commercial vessel.

“We keep her in good shape, but right now, unless there’s a resurgence (in the chub population), it’s not practical for us to go out in that boat and set a net and hope to get 10 fish,” she said.

The situation for the Joy is also fraught. When Holmes first came to Fishtown in 2007, the Joy had a whitefish quota of “around 65,000 pounds of fish per year” and was reliably hitting or getting close to that quota.

“But anyone who studies the graphs of what’s happened in the Great Lakes, there have been a lot of changes, and one of those changes is that the population of whitefish has dropped considerably,” Holmes noted.

The main fish caught near Leland is lake trout, which is forbidden to the preservation society.

And lake trout are voracious eaters, she says.

“They love a good meal, and they will eat whatever is around them, including other small fish,” she said. “The result is that they have kind of taken over the territory where the whitefish were.”

Because of the lake trout resurgence and its disruption to the food chain, numbers and quotas for whitefish are dipping throughout the Great Lakes fishery. Last year, Holmes said the catch limit was just 17,200 pounds of fish – a little over a quarter of what the Joy could catch 15 years ago.

“The price for whitefish is typically $1.50 to $2.50 a pound, depending on where you go,” Holmes said. “So if you’ve put $300,000 worth of gas in your tank, and you’ve taken out your crew, and you’ve worked your net, and you’ve cared for the boat, and you’ve caught your entire quota, but you’re still just getting $2 a pound, you’re still only bringing in around $34,000.

“That’s not a good living.”

So, how could an apprenticeship program help solve the existential challenges facing commercial fishing in Michigan?

Per Holmes, the apprenticeship con- cept is still in its early stages of development, and could look different depending on whether Michigan Sea Grant can get state funding for a Michigan-wide effort, or if Fishtown will need to build its own program.

Both of those possibilities are percolating behind the scenes. Michigan Sea Grant is pushing the statewide proposal as of press time, while Holmes and other Fishtown players are playing around with ideas for what a local program could look like.

“We kind of started things off experimentally last summer,” Holmes said of the latter. “Joel Peterson of Carlson’s Fishery (who captains the Joy), had two people who he worked with in this capacity last year who will be able to come back this summer, and they’ve agreed to work with me (to help develop this program).”

For Holmes, there are both obvious possibilities and not-so-obvious ideas for where an apprenticeship program could go. On the more obvious side, Holmes said Fishtown would love to target students whose interests or career paths intersect logically with commercial fishing –whether that’s welding students at the Career-Tech Center in Traverse City, or college students involved in the fisheries and wildlife management program at Lake Superior State University.

Those ideas would help fishermen like Peterson crew their boats and reduce the effort needed to harvest a substantial haul of fish.

In Holmes’ view, though, it might actually be the less obvious ideas that have the best chance of saving commercial fishing in Michigan, such as educating students who in turn can help policy-makers understand the industry better.

“Because if you can have even just a handful of people that you can educate and influence and have them learn about this industry hands-on, then even if that person doesn’t become a commercial fisherman, they become someone who understands the nature of what we do, and that’s what we need,” she said.

The ultimate goal of the Architect... is to create a paradise.

Every house, every product of Architecture... should be a fruit of our endeavor to build an earthly paradise for people.

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness”- Frank Gehry

Elk Rapids 231.498.2500

Northville 248.515.4477

Northville 248.515.4477 josephmoseyarchitecture.com josephmoseyarchitecture.com

Business2018

Why choose Bonek?

For over 85 years, Bonek Insurance has provided personal and commercial insurance protection. We form strong relationships with our clients – keeping their best interests in mind. Let us customize your coverage. Call us today!