Bay Port Fish Company
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[edit] History
The Bay Port Fish Company is located on the south shore of Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron at Bay Port, Michigan. Saginaw Bay was one of the most productive fishing areas on the Great Lakes, and the Bay Port Fish Bay Company prospered along with others in Saginaw Bay to become one of the largest commercial fisheries in Michigan. The operations of the company included producing, buying, packing salting, dressing, and selling fresh fish from the Saginaw Bay.
During the company's most successful years, 1920 to 1940, it was a largely a supplier to wholesalers in the Midwest and Eastern markets with a large share if its catch going to the dealers in New York City. As the quality and quantity of fishing declined within Saginaw Bay due to the pollution, the parasitic sea lamprey, and the increasing regulation by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (now know as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality), the fortunes of the company declined.
The Bay Port Fish Company was incorporated in the state of Michigan on 2 August 1905. The company was established by William J. Orr, a grain dealer who also marketed salted herring. He was joined by William H. Wallace and other prominent Saginaw business men who became the major stockholders in 1905.
The major stockholders during these early years were W. J. Orr, William H. Wallace, George B. Morley, and Thomas Harvey. Wallace was involved with at least three other companies: the Sebewaing Sugar Company of Sebewaing, Michigan (established in 1901, it became the Michigan Sugar Company in 1906), the Wallace Stone Company, and Bay Port State Bank.
George B. Morely was a director and officer of the second National bank and Trust Company in Saginaw, and Thomas Harvey's primary enterprise was the U.S. Graphite Company of Saginaw. In August 1915 the Bay Port Fish Company was reorganized and reincorporated. In November 1915 the company increased its stock another $30,000 to purchase Little Charity Island from the indebted Beutel Fisheries Company through the people's Savings and Commercial Bank of Bay City, Michigan.
The Bay Port Fish Company's wealthy stockholders acquired shore land and Little Charity Island because of Riparian rights for fishing. Those rights gave the land owners the exclusive right to fishing within a mile of the shores. These properties were subdivided and sold through the years until 1949.
When the fisheries in Saginaw Bay became less profitable and the rising value of the lake shore land made the company's real estate sales more profitable, the major stockholders decided to sell the fishing business but retain ownership of the land. The rise of the company through the 1920's and 1930's was followed by a gradual decline after 1940.
[edit] Current
The company survived the difficult years after World War II and continues to operate today producing and dressing fresh fish for retail and wholesale markets. The company currently operates three trapnet boats, the Sunflower, the Osprey, and the Tawas, and purchases fish from independents in the Bay Port area.
