LANSING, MI (AP)-- The commercial fishing industry's total catch last year in Michigan was down slightly, but its cash value was up.
The Department of Natural Resources says state-licensed commercial operators landed about 3.4 million pounds of fish during the 2014 season. The estimated wholesale dockside value was more than $5.8 million before processing, marketing and retail sales.
Officials say the total harvest was 200,000 pounds below that of 2013. But the gross dockside value rose $300,000, or more than 5 percent. That's largely because of a jump in the wholesale price of whitefish. The popular species' value has risen more than 50 percent in the past two years.
Lake whitefish accounted for more than two-thirds of the state-licensed harvest by pounds and 84 percent of the gross value during the last decade.