Cold Summer Makes Lake Superior Bluefin Scarce

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Lake Superior bluefin herring is finally back on the menu at the Bluefin Grille.

Ed Douglass, executive chef for the fine-dining restaurant on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Tofte, says they couldn't offer their namesake fish all summer until last week.

That's because the nets of the commercial fishermen on the world's largest freshwater lake kept coming up empty of herring this summer. The culprit, according to fisheries experts, was an unusually cold summer that kept water temperatures even more frigid than usual and kept the fish dispersed.

But the fishing has bounced back, thanks to the warm weather of the last few weeks.

Harley Toftey of the Dockside Fish Market in Grand Marais says he's netting all the herring he can sell.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)