Seminar on Fishtown and Great Lakes Fisheries

The Inland Seas Education Association will present a seminar that focuses on the Great Lakes fishery at 7 PM next Tuesday, January 11th at the Inland Seas Education Center in Suttons Bay. The seminar is free and open to the public and will be presented by Amanda Holmes, Executive Director of the Fishtown Preservation Society.

The shores of the Great Lakes and their islands were once fringed with commercial fisheries like Leland’s Fishtown, where fish were processed for the burgeoning Midwest. As it has been for over a century, Fishtown is still a commercial fishery, although on a smaller scale. Holmes will share her explorations of some of the few remaining fishing operations throughout the Great Lakes, why they have survived, and what they have taught her about the rarity of Fishtown.

Amandais the Executive Director of the Fishtown Preservation Society and holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife and a Certificate in Historic Preservation. She has written numerous architectural, landscape, and engineering studies for the National Park Service, as well as published an award-winning history of Omena, Michigan. Her background in Folklore has led her to gather as many stories as possible about Fishtown, and to broaden her scope to capturing the stories of commercial fishing and fishermen from all over the Great Lakes.

The photo is Leland early Fishing Fleet in old Channel by UpNorth Memories – Donald (Don) Harrison and you can see more in his Fishtown slideshow!