Representatives from the Manistee Area Charterboats and the Manistee County Sport Fishing Association were able to observe trap nets being lifted on August 2, 2007. We watched three lifts and they were all almost identical.  The ONLY fish in the nets were whitefish and a few lake trout.  There were no salmon, no steelhead, no perch, no burbot etc... They caught about 400 pounds of legal whitefish in each net.  Each net had 4 or 5 lake trout in it.  They kept a total of 4 lake trout that did not look like they would survive.  The rest were released and swam away.  The trap net fishermen are legally required to throw back all whitefish and lake trout under 17 inches - dead or alive.  The only released fish that we saw floating dead in the water were small whitefish in the 10 - 12 inch range.  We video taped the lifts and took several pictures.   I would like to thank S & S Fisheries and the tribal conservation department for allowing us this opportunity.

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