Economic Analysis of Les Cheneaux Islands Sport Fishery

Authors: Dave Fielder

Author Affiliation: MDNR

Journal: Unpublished Report; 2010

Abstract: This analysis indicates that a total of $5.3 million dollars in economic activity has been lost each year since the collapse of the sport perch fishery in the Cedarville I Hessel area ($6.5 million total activity).
In a separate analysis done in 1986, Diana et al. (1987) estimated that the tourist segment of the fishery (not counting locals) generated between $2.2 & $4.4 million/Yr in expenditure. (This would be approximatley $3.4 to $6.9 million/Yr in 2001 dollars (allowing 3% inflation/yr.). This compares closely with the estimates generated here.

Note: Evaluation of Yellow Perch Fishery and its Importance to the Local economy of the Les Cheneaux Area referenced above is available as a pdf in the LCWC Library: http://www.lescheneauxwatershed.org/library/fisheries-management/62-evaluation-of-yellow-perch-fishery-1987/file

Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division Annual Report, FY 2013, Presented in Cedarville at the Les Ceheneaux Sportsman's club on M-134.

Data re: Perch, Other Les Cheneaux Fish, Cormorants, Zooplankton etc. for Model of Les Cheneaux Perch Fishery

Authors: A. Ben Clymer; Mark Clymer

Author Affiliation: Les Cheneaux Islands Association

Journal: Unpublished, 1994

Abstract: Following shifts in both sport and commercial fishing activity in the mid-1980's, Dbl. Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) began nesting at 5 island rookeries around the Les Cheneaux Islands, displacing most of the Heron, Gulls, and Plovers that historically nested there. Their principle impact on the local fishery has been during the spring spawning season, when their feeding habits began to limit Yellow Perch (Perca flav escens) reproduction and in some cases eliminated entire year classes in some spawning bays.

This is a working paper that was being developed to model the relationships between Cormorants and Perch, in order to provide a basis for updating John Schrouder's Les Cheneaux Fisheries Opportunity Analysis into a larger scope Fisheries and Cormorant Management Plan. The overall goal being to substantiate the need and underlying science for a Cormorant Depredation Permit. 

Public Resource Depredation Order (PRDO, 50 CFR 21.48) was obtained in 2003 after 25 years of continuous effort, and is currently (2017) unavailable for renewal, due to an unfavorable Federal Court ruling in PEER vs FWS (Case 1:14-cv-01807-JDB), on May 26, 2016.

Evaluation of Yellow Perch Fishery and its Importance to the Local economy of the Les Cheneaux Area

Authors: James Diana¹, Carol Jones¹, David Lucchesi¹, James Schneider²

Author Affiliation: ¹School of Natural Resources, U of Michigan, ²Inst for Fisheries Research, MDNR

Journal: Coastal Management Program Report, MDNR; March 1987

Abstract: This was the first study of the declining Les Cheneaux Perch Fishery following USA v Michgan

United States of America et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
State of Michigan et al., Defendants.

Authors: Judge Noel Fox

Author Affiliation: United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, N.D.

Journal: USDC, W.D. Michigan, N.D.; No. M26-73 C.A.; May 7, 1979

Abstract:  It is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the right of the Plaintiff tribes to fish in the waters of the Great Lakes and connecting waters ceded by the Treaty of 1836, 7 Stat. 491, is as follows:
(1) Each of the Plaintiff tribes, the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a present-day tribal entity which, with respect to the matters which are the subject of this litigation, is a political successor in interest to the Indians who were party to the Treaty of Ghent and the Treaty of 1836. Their members can trace their ancestry to the Indians who were beneficiaries of the Treaty of Ghent of 1814, 8 Stat. 218, and the Treaty of 1836. Members of these tribes and their predecessor bands and the individual ancestors of their members have fished the ceded waters of the Great Lakes under claim of aboriginal right, Treaty of Ghent and Treaty of 1836 right from ancient times until the present.