Great Lakes Fish Award

Logo of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission featuring a green circle with an outline of the Great Lakes in the center, surrounded by a blue ring with white text that reads "Great Lakes Fishery Commission" at the top and "Protecting Our Fishery" at the bottom.

Created in partnership with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to celebrate fish species that provide valuable ecosystem services and are important to Great Lakes tribal, commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries and to raise awareness of non-native fish species that negatively impact the ecosystem.

Requirements

Artwork must feature a Great Lakes fish species from the list below, either native, naturalized, non-native (invasive), or a combination. Applicable species for this award are:

Native

Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis)

Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

Walleye (Sander vitreus)

Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens)

Yellow perch (Perca flavescens)

Cisco (Coregonus artedi)

Deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompsonii)

American eel (Anguilla rostrata)

Burbot (Lota lota)

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu)

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)

White sucker (Catostomus commersonii)

Longnose sucker (Catostomus catostomus)

Native

Northern pike (Esox Lucius)

Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)

Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus)

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Bowfin (Amia calva)

Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

Shorthead redhorse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum)

Quillback (Carpiodes cyprinu)

Bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus)

Longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus)

Chestnut lamprey (Ichthyomyzon castaneus)

Silver lamprey (Ichthyomyzon unicuspis)

Northern brook lamprey (Ichthyomyzon fossor)

American brook lamprey (Lethenteron appendix)

Naturalized

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

Steelhead (migratory Rainbow trout; Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Non-native (invasive)

Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)

Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)

Round goby (Neogobius melanostomus)

Illustration of a fish with a fishing lure in its mouth, surrounded by underwater plants and trees.

Prizes

Great Lakes Fishery Commission Hat and Water Bottle ($30 value)

Sea lamprey model ($15 value)

Sea lamprey and GLFC-themed Stickers

Display on the GLFC Facebook and X.

Inclusion in a GLFC-created calendar distributed to partners, shareholders, legislators, the public, etc.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded in all four age categories: Kindergarten – 3rd grade, 4th-6th grade, 7th-9th grade, and 10th-12th grade.

A painted mural of two fish swimming underwater near rocks and tree branches, with a distant treeline and sky in the background.
Emblem of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission with an outline map of the Great Lakes in the center, encircled by the text 'Great Lakes Fishery Commission' and 'Protecting Our Fishery'.

About the Great Lakes Fishery Commission

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission was established in 1955 by the Canadian/U.S. Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries. The commission coordinates fisheries research, controls the invasive sea lamprey, and facilitates cooperative fishery management among the state, provincial, tribal, and federal agencies.