The Project

Purdue University and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant have developed this website to provide easy access to long-term recreational fisheries data in southern Lake Michigan. These data have been collected and provided by the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). For more information about these agencies, please click their logos.

Data collection

The INHS and IDNR collect data by conducting creel surveys to interview anglers while they are fishing, or once they have finished fishing. By conducting surveys at many locations, days and times throughout the region, scientists can scale these data to the entire fishery. The data you see on this website are scaled estimates for each fishery. These data area also available in annual reports from each state agency. Please contact the INHS and IDNR for more information about the methods used to collect and estimate recreational fishery data.

Contact

If you have any questions about the website, please contact the project leader, Dr. Mitchell Zischke.