The story of the American commercial fisheries on the Great Lakes has been told in considerable detail. Histories of Canada’s industry are fewer and of more limited scope.

The records presented here deal with the historical fish stocks and  commercial fisheries of the Canadian Great Lakes North Shore, especially Lake Superior. They include extensive archival investigations and first person interviews and were gathered during the course of two endeavours.

The first involved Master’s thesis research (page 3) at the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto. This work was conducted between the years 1978 and 1981 under the supervision of Dr. Henry A. Regier, Professor Emeritus at the U. of T. and one of Canada’s foremost environmental scientists.

Secondly, in 1984 the National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, recommended that a study be initiated to select a site to commemorate the North Shore fishing industry. To this end a survey (page 9) of possible sites was conducted and their histories recorded.