Documents & Media
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission makes a variety of materials and media available on this website, free for public use with proper citation.
Key Documents
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission was created by the 1954 Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries (pdf), a treaty between Canada and the United States. One key commission duty is to "develop and maintain working arrangements" among the fishery jurisdictions of the basin. This duty is fulfilled under A Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries (pdf), which was first signed in 1981 and updated in 1997. The commission has articulated its objectives for the fishery through the Strategic Vision of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission 2021-2025 (pdf).
Citation-Indexed Scientific Journals
Laurentian (new)
Scope—Launched in 2022, Laurentian replaces three historically separate, irregularly published Commission journals: Technical Report, Special Publication, and Miscellaneous Publication. Laurentian will continue to serve as an outlet for publication of interdisciplinary review and synthesis papers; narrowly focused material with special relevance to a single but important aspect of the Commission’s mandate under the Convention; and scientific reports from committees that work under the umbrella of the Commission. In addition, relevant papers that do not fit the format of mainstream journals owing, for instance, to length, extensive datasets, or nature of the material and its presentation, will be considered. For further clarification, authors are encouraged to review recent papers published under the three former titles, all available on the Commission’s website (www.glfc.org) and described below.
Format and Editorial Process—Follows the style of the American Fisheries Society (https://fisheries.org/books-journals/writing-tools/style-guide/). Outside peer review, internal review by editorial staff, or both to be determined based on content.
Technical Reports (1961–2011; discontinued)
Scope—Suitable for either interdisciplinary review and synthesis papers of general interest to Great Lakes fisheries researchers, managers, and administrators, or more narrowly focused material with special relevance to a single but important aspect of the commission's program. Published online and print by the commission and disseminated further through index citation by BIOSIS.
Format and Editorial Process—Follows the style of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Subject to peer-review and editing by commission staff to conform to established technical and editorial standards.
Special Publications (1979—2021; discontinued)
Scope—Outlet for technical documents produced by working committees of the commission. Published online and print by the commission and disseminated further through index citation by ProQuest.
Format and Editorial Process—Follows the style of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Not subject to peer review but subject to oversight by special editors assigned by commission staff and to further editing by staff to conform to established technical and editorial standards.
Miscellaneous Publications (1992-2023; discontinued)
Scope—Primarily for in-depth specialized topics or other lengthy reports of interest to the commission and not necessarily produced by one of its working committees. Published online and print by the commission and disseminated further through index citation by ProQuest.
Format and Editorial Process—Follows the style of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Not subject to peer review but may be subject to oversight by special editors assigned by commission staff and (or) are edited by staff to conform to established technical and editorial standards.
Fishery Management Documents
Management Report
Scope—Includes policy documents such as fish community objectives and environmental objectives that foster management planning by lake committees in support of A Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries. Online publication through the sponsoring lake committee’s website.
Format and Editorial Process—May be reviewed by management peers and may contain input from commission staff throughout document development. Because these documents will have gone through policy-level review by sponsoring agencies as part of their approval process, the submitted document will not be edited for content, but the commission will provide copy editing based on the style used by the authors.
Research Completion Reports
As part of its mandate the commission funds research in in two general areas, one focusing mainly on sea lampreys (administered as Sea Lamprey Research) and one not focusing mainly on sea lampreys (administered as Fishery Research). Submission of a completion report is required as part of the contracting process, and one purpose of reporting is to make findings available to the research community soon after submission. Abstracts from both sea lamprey and fishery research completion reports are available online beginning with research completed in 2005 and full reports (including abstracts) are available for years preceding 2005. Those seeking full reports for research completed in 2005 and thereafter are asked to contact the commission office (research@glfc.org) or the author(s). Full reports are considered proprietary and will be distributed only with permission of the principal investigator.