Sunrise Coast Pure Michigan Byway

Fish tug Janice Sue in the Leland township harbor.

Cassandra Sadler.

Fish tug Katherine V breaking ice.

Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan.

Fish tug Kate A at dock.

West Shore Fishing Museum

Join maritime archaeologist, Cassandra Sadler, as she examines the historical development of the traditional Great Lakes fish tug within the context of the evolving Great Lakes commercial fishing industry. Employing a maritime cultural landscape approach, this presentation will compare several vessels associated with the state of Michigan’s commercial fishing industry to address how the region’s environmental, technological, political, and social changes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries influenced the construction and use of the industry’s vessels.