The Pound Net Stake Fishery of the Upper Great Lakes of Michigan: An Initial Exploration

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

People have fished the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. In the mid-nineteenth century a new way of procuring fish reached the Upper Great Lakes using pound net stakes. While historic documentation exists, little study has been conducted on the material culture or aspects of the fishery including bottomlands tenure of fishing grounds practiced by Euro-Americans. If previous studies had been conducted of the material culture, it is possible that one of the many purported sites of La Salle’s Le Griffon might not have caused such confusion and unsubstantiated claims as to its nature. This paper summarizes what is known about the fishery and its material culture and seeks to make a contribution toward recording additional ethnohistorical practices of both Native Americans and Euro-Americans. The remaining ecological impact of the pound net stake fishery is also discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow