Whether you grill it, bake it, bake it, steam it, boil it, or broil it, Lake Michigan whitefish is one of the most popular — and tasty — dishes available across northern Michigan.                          
         
Its sweet, light flavor has long made whitefish a staple enjoyed by locals and visitors alike at area eateries. The humble, silvery-brown fish has sustained people in the Great Lakes for centuries and continues to do so.
         
But as Al Parker writes in this week's special Fall Restaurant issue of the Northern Express, sister publication of The Ticker, there’s a wicked truth lurking beneath some of our Great Lakes: Our once-robust whitefish population is shrinking.

It’s considerably smaller than it was 15 or 20 years ago when it was at record levels, according to Dave Caroffino, a fisheries biology specialist for the Department of Natural Resources. He’s part of the team that calculates and sets the harvest limits for whitefish and lake trout. They monitor catches and collect biological data from commercial fishers about the fish taken in Leland, Muskegon, and Bay De Noc in the Upper Peninsula.

“It won’t decline to zero, but it will exist at a lower level,” explains Caroffino. “Things are not so good. We’ve hit a floor. It’s not zero, but it’s much less than it was 15 years ago.”
         
According to DNR data, in the 1990s the annual whitefish harvest from Lake Superior was about 900,000 pounds per year. From Lake Michigan it was 4 million pounds per year. And from Lake Huron, it was 2.7 millions pounds. In 2017, the harvest from Lake Superior was 820,000 pounds. Lake Michigan netted 1.3 million pounds, and Lake Huron only 250,000 pounds. In other words: More whitefish were taken from Lake Michigan during a typical year two decades ago than were taken from all three lakes last year.

So what's causing the dramatic whitefish decline? And can anything be done to reverse the trend? Read more in this week's Northern Express story, "Where Have All The Whitefish Gone?" The Northern Express is available to read online, or pick up a free copy at one of nearly 700 spots in 14 counties across northern Michigan.