Saginaw Bay is a bay within Lake Huron located on the eastern side of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It forms the space between Michigan's Thumb region and the rest of the

Lower Peninsula of Michigan The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula, which is separated by the S ...

. Saginaw Bay is in area. It is located in parts of five Michigan counties: Arenac, Bay,

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

Iosco The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations that regulate the world's securities and futures markets. Members are typically primary securities and/or futures regulators in a national jurisdic ...

, and Tuscola.

Watershed

The Saginaw Bay watershed is the largest

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

in Michigan, draining approximately 15% of the total land area.Saginaw River and Bay Area of Concern
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The watershed contains the largest contiguous freshwater coastal wetland system in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network leads the effort to promote sustainable development in the Saginaw Bay Watershed by coordinating watershed programs and providing grants to innovative projects across the region. It is currently listed as an Area of Concern by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Etymology

Possible origins for the name "Saginaw" could be from the Ojibwa words ''O-Sag-e-non'' (Ozaagiinaang) or ''Sag-in-a-we'' (Zaagiinaang), meaning "to flow out". It may refer to the

Saginaw River The Saginaw River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is formed by the confluence of the Tittabawassee and S ...

, which flows out into Saginaw Bay and eventually into Lake Huron. The name "Saginaw" is not related to Saguenay, a region in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

whose name is of

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

origin.

History

This area was long settled by indigenous peoples, lastly by bands of the

Ojibwe people The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

prior to European exploration. They dominated the areas around the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

. In the early 17th century, French explorers were the first Europeans to visit the Great Lakes region. The first to visit the Saginaw Bay area was Father Jacques Marquette, a French

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

priest, who went there in 1668 after establishing a mission in

St. Ignace St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered auto ...

. In 1686, Father arrived in the valley to establish an Indian mission, but his efforts failed. France ceded its nominal control of the region to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

under the terms of the

Treaty of Paris of 1763 The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, after Great Britain and Prussia's victory over France and Spain during the S ...

following Britain's victory in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. Twenty years later, Britain ceded it to the newly independent

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. It became part of the Michigan Territory in 1805 and later was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. During development of natural resources in the 19th century, Saginaw Bay was busy with shipping of lumber and other commodities to eastern markets.

Settlements

About 1813,

Louis Campau Louis Campau (August 11, 1791 – April 13, 1871), also spelled Louis Campeau, was an important figure in the early settlement of Saginaw and Grand Rapids - two important Michigan cities in which he had established trading posts. Campau was also ...

erected an Indian trading post along the Saginaw River, which led to the development of

Saginaw City, Michigan ''For the current city, see Saginaw, Michigan'' The City of Saginaw (Saginaw City) is a defunct city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan that has been consolidated into a new municipality bearing the same name. To distinguish between ...

in 1816 (which was combined with East Saginaw City in March 1890 to form

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

). The history of other settlements of the Saginaw Bay area was connected to this.

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metrop ...

is a major port at the lower end of the bay. The two islands in the middle of the bay, Charity Island and

Little Charity Island Little Charity Island is a small island in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. The 5.4-acre (0.02 km2) island is located in Sims Township, Arenac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Acquired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999, it is admi ...

, are excellent fishing grounds.

Fisheries

Because Saginaw Bay is shallower and warmer than the main basin of Lake Huron, its fish community is also different. Both recreational and commercial fisheries operate in Saginaw Bay.

Walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

and

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Sam ...

are the primary sport species while the commercial fishery primarily targets

lake whitefish The lake whitefish (''Coregonus clupeaformis'') is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. The lake white ...

and yellow perch. The commercial fishery is a state of Michigan licensed fishery as opposed to tribal based fisheries that operate in other parts of Lake Huron. The recreational fishery became more prominent in the last half of the 20th century. Prior to that, the bay's fisheries were almost entirely commercial. Like much of the Great Lakes, the fisheries collapsed or became severely degraded around the middle part of the 20th century. This was attributed mainly to

habitat degradation Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

(dam construction, sedimentation of off shore spawning areas), pollution,

cultural eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplank ...

, and the effects of invasive species. The relatively intense exploitation of the commercial fisheries that operated at the time probably hastened the declines but was not believed to be the main cause since they had operated there since the late 17th century. Resurgence of the fisheries began after passage of clean water legislation like the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Clean Water Pact. The walleye fishery began a resurgence in the early 1980s when the

Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor a ...

initiated a fingerling

stocking Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transpare ...

program. The sport fishery soon remerged, but the commercial fishery for walleye which was formally closed in 1970, remained closed. The recreational fishery harvest averaged 80,000 walleyes annually from 1986 to 2002 but was hatchery dependent with as much as 80% of the harvest being hatchery fish. A profound

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one o ...

shift in Lake Huron took place in 2003 with the near disappearance of the invasive alewife. Alewives used Saginaw Bay's near-shore waters as spawning and nursery grounds and were a formidable predator and competitor on newly hatched percid (walleye and yellow perch) fry. In the absence of alewives, walleye and yellow perch reproductive success greatly increased. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources discontinued stocking in 2006, and walleye recovery targets were formally met in 2009. Recreational harvest since then has ranged from about 150,000 per year to as much as 350,000 per year. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources liberalized walleye recreational harvest (higher daily possession limit and lower minimum length limit) in 2015. Although yellow perch also benefitted from the absence of alewives with greater reproductive success, the numbers of adults has declined and remained depressed. This is because of a high mortality rate in their first year of life, believed to be predation from walleye and other predators. Other historically important species in Saginaw Bay include

lake sturgeon The lake sturgeon (''Acipenser fulvescens''), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder with evolutionarily basal t ...

and

cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

(lake herring). Until the middle of the 20th century, Saginaw Bay supported an enormous cisco commercial fishery. They declined throughout much of the lake and have not recovered in Saginaw Bay. A cisco fingerling stocking program aimed at restoring a breeding population in the bay was initiated in 2017, a joint exercise by the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and other partner agencies of the

Great Lakes Fishery Commission The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is a bi-national commission made up of representatives of the United States and Canada. It was formed by the Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries, concluded in 1954 and ratified in 1955. It has eight members: fou ...

. Lake sturgeon, which mainly spawn in rivers, are also the subject of a restocking effort led by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, with plantings taking place in the Saginaw River system.

Weather

Saginaw Bay Light No. 1, a navigational light 11 nautical miles northeast of the mouth of the Saginaw River, houses

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

weather equipment providing weather conditions for the bay. Gravelly Shoal Light, located near Charity Island, also houses a weather station.

References

External links

* ttp://www.saginawbaywin.org Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network {{Authority control Bodies of water of Arenac County, Michigan Bodies of water of Bay County, Michigan Bays of Michigan Bodies of water of Huron County, Michigan Important Bird Areas of Michigan Bodies of water of Iosco County, Michigan Northern Michigan Bodies of water of Tuscola County, Michigan Bays of Lake Huron Michigan State Historic Sites in Bay County