Editing Lake Erie (section)

====Commercial fishing====
[[File:Lake Erie Sunset with fish net.JPG|thumb|right|Sunset on Lake Erie seen through a fishing net]]
Estimates vary about the fishing market for the Great Lakes region. In 2007, one estimate of the total market for fishing in the Great Lakes, including commercial and recreational fishing, was $4&nbsp;billion annually.<ref name=twsX412a/> Another estimate was more than $7&nbsp;billion.<ref name="twsX14b"/> But since high levels of pollution were discovered in the 1960s and 1970s, there has been continued debate over the desired intensity of commercial fishing. Commercial fishing in Lake Erie has been hurt by pollution as well as government regulations which limit the size of their catch; one report suggested that the numbers of fishing boats and employees had declined by two-thirds in recent decades.<ref name="twsX14b" /> Another concern had been that pollution in the lake, as well as toxins found inside fish, were working against commercial fishing interests.<ref name="twsX215" />

U.S. fishermen based along Lake Erie lost their livelihood over the past few decades and no longer catch fish such as whitefish for markets in New York.<ref name=twsX314a>{{cite news
 |author       = Dennis B. Roddy
 |title        = Caught in a net of laws and bans, fishermen lost their livelihood
 |newspaper    = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 |date         = September 30, 2010
 |url          = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10273/1091470-454.stm
 |access-date  = January 24, 2011
 |archive-date = October 3, 2010
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20101003072413/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10273/1091470-454.stm
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> Pennsylvania had a special $3 stamp on fishing licenses to help "compensate commercial fishermen for their losses", but this program ended after five years.<ref name=twsX314a/> One blamed the commercial fishing ban on a "test of wills" between commercial and recreational fishermen: "One side needed large hauls. The other feared the lake was being emptied."<ref name=twsX314a/>

[[File:15-04-19 008 Modern fish tug, AMANDA MAY on Lake Erie.jpg|thumb|right|Canadian commercial fishing boat coming into the harbor at Port Burwell on Lake Erie]]
Commercial fishing is now predominantly based in Canadian communities, with a much smaller fishery—largely restricted to [[yellow perch]]—in Ohio. The Ontario fishery is one of the most intensively managed in the world. However, there are reports that some Canadian commercial fishermen are dissatisfied with fishing quotas and have sued the government about this matter, and there have been complaints that the legislative body writing the quotas is dominated by the U.S. and that sport fishing interests are favored at the expense of commercial fishing interests.<ref name=twsZ32>{{cite news
 |publisher=The Windsor Star 
 |title=Lake Erie fishermen suing government over quotas 
 |website=Canada.com 
 |date=September 18, 2007 
 |url=http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=c664e767-a81e-450e-b471-c90bd072691b&k=54718 
 |access-date=January 26, 2011 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828013743/http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=c664e767-a81e-450e-b471-c90bd072691b&k=54718 
 |archive-date=August 28, 2012 
}}</ref> Cuts of 30 to 45 percent for certain fish were made in 2007.<ref name=twsZ32/> The Lake Erie fishery was one of the first fisheries in the world managed on individual transferable quotas and features mandatory daily catch reporting and intensive auditing of the catch reporting system. Still, the commercial fishery is the target of critics who would like to see the lake managed for the exclusive benefit of sport fishing and the various industries serving the sport fishery. According to one report, the Canadian town of [[Port Dover, Ontario|Port Dover]] is the home of the lake's largest fishing fleet.<ref name=twsX18/>