Fish species lost in changing tides Series: CHICAGO'S GREAT LAKE (STANDARD)

Lake Michigan's waters teemed with fish when European settlersreached its shores. Naturalists estimate there were between 79 and160 native species.

Now, pollution, overfishing and foreign invaders have decimatedthe fish descendants. Native lake trout are extinct, sturgeon rare.

In the 1850s, commercial fishing was a major industry. Butlumbering in the north and industrial waste in the south set thestage for disaster.

Rivers in Wisconsin and Michigan were jammed with logs beingpoled to sawmills.

The lumber gouged out traditional river spawning grounds, andthe tons of sawdust dumped in streams and bays smothered others, saidnaturalist John Mahan, …