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USGS · 70274777

Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2024

Mark R. Vinson·Lori M. Evrard·Isabel Field·Owen T. Gorman·Sydney Phillips·Nicole M. Watson·Daniel L. Yule
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Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey has conducted annual fishery surveys across Lake Superior since 1978 that describe trends in fish species occurrence and relative abundance to inform fisheries management and ecosystem health. In 2024, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom and surface trawls at 72 nearshore locations in June and 36 offshore locations in July. Nearshore bottom trawls collected 22,190 fish represented by 27 species or morphotypes. The number of species collected at each location ranged from 1 to 12, with a median of 5.5 species. Estimated fish biomass at individual locations ranged from <0.1 to 62.9 kg per ha with a lakewide mean of 3.7 kg per ha. Offshore bottom trawls collected 33,634 fish represented by 12 species or morphotypes. Estimated fish biomass at individual locations ranged from 0.6 to 25.8 kg per ha with a lakewide mean of 8.3 kg per ha, which was the second highest for the period-of-record. Lakewide average densities (fish per ha) of age-1 fish were 1 per ha for Bloater, 5 per ha for Cisco, 1 per ha for Lake Whitefish, 60 per ha for Rainbow Smelt, and 19 per ha for Kiyi. Surface trawling collected 5,177 larval Coregonus individuals which was the third fewest Coregonus larvae collected in a whole lake survey since the larval fish survey began in 2014. Nearshore mean larval Coregonus densities were 176 fish per ha in June 2024 and offshore densities were 7 fish per ha in July 2024. June and July surface water temperatures were near the warmest for the period-of-record.

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90° N90° S · 180° W ← longitude → 180° E
Source-reported bounding extent: 46.39998810407942° to 49.03966846228119° latitude; -92.16156005859375° to -84.31732177734375° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Mark R. Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Isabel Field, Owen T. Gorman, Sydney Phillips, Nicole M. Watson, Daniel L. Yule. 2025. Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2024. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70274777

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