During the early European settlement of the Great Lakes basin, herring was salted down or smoked as a food staple, providing an important food source for the people moving to the region. In the last 100 years, almost unbelievably large populations of herring have made them the largest commercial catch of any Great Lakes fish.

In more recent years, however, lake herring populations have been drastically reduced due to overfishing and competition from other fish like smelt and alewives, an exotic species.