Fish Shanty Peninsula

Fish Shanty Peninsula. . , Lake Michigan and its feeder tributaries have been continually fished for centuries, first by Indigenous populations and much later by European and American settlers. This peninsula of land, where Sauk Creek empties into Lake Michigan, was the center for the commercial fishing industry in the Port Washington area from the mid-1800s until 2001. Commercial fishers lined this spit of land with net shanties and smoke houses to moor their boats, repair their nets, and process, pickle, smoke, pack, and sell their catch. , Winter floods from the creek and high waves from the lake repeatedly damaged many of the shanties and often washed some away completely. Overfishing, pollution, and the introduction of invasive species of fish, zooplankton, crustaceans, and mollusks into Lake Michigan severely reduced the size of commercial fishing catches. Large vessel traffic on Lake Michigan was the final blow to commercial fishing out of Port Washington. The Linda E fishing tugboat was sunk and her crew of three was lost on December 11, 1998, after a collision with a massive oil barge; the land on this peninsula was sold to a condominium developer that same year. In 2001, the Smith Bros. Food Service processing plant was closed, leaving its net shed as the only fish shanty building still standing as of 2022. , Erected 2023 , Port Washington Historical Society