Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2024

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