Integrated Management of Sea Lampreys in the Great Lakes
1996 Annual Report to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission


LAMPRICIDE CONTROL

Tributaries harboring larval sea lampreys periodically are treated with lampricides to eliminate or reduce the populations of larvae before recruitment to the lake as parasitic adults.

Department and Service treatment units administer and monitor doses of the lampricide TFM (sometimes augmented with the wettable powder formulation of Bayluscide) to scheduled tributaries. Specialized equipment and techniques are employed to provide concentrations of TFM that eliminate 95 percent of the lamprey larvae and minimize the risk to nontarget species. In recent years the combination of improved analytical and predictive techniques has allowed treatment crews to reduce lampricide concentrations on most treatments.

The Lampricide Control Task Force was established in December 1995 with charges to improve the efficiency of lampricide control, to maximize sea lamprey killed in stream and lentic treatments while minimizing lampricide use, costs, and impacts on stream/lake ecosystems, and to define lampricide control options for near and long-term stream selection and target setting. The report of progress on the charges in 1996 is presented on page 71.

Lake Superior

Tributary Information

Table 3 provides details on the applications of lampricides to 15 tributaries of Lake Superior in 1996 (Fig. 7). The following statements highlight the treatment program.

United States

Canada


Table 3. Details on the appliction of lampricides to tributaries of Lake Superior, 1996. (Number in parentheses corresponds to location of stream in figure 7.)


Fig. 7. Location of tributaries treated with lampricide in 1996.

Lake Michigan

Tributary Information

Table 4 provides details of the application of lampricides to 11 tributaries of Lake Michigan in 1996 (Fig. 7). The following statements highlight the treatment program.

Table 4. Details on the application of lampricides to tributaries of Lake Michigan, 1996. (Number in parentheses corresponds to location of stream in Fig. 7.)


Lake Huron

Tributary Information

Table 5 provides details of the application of lampricides to 18 tributaries of Lake Huron (10 U.S., 8 Canada) in 1996 (Fig. 7). The following statements highlight the treatment program.


Table 5. Details on the application of lampricides to tributaries of Lake Huron, 1996. (Number in parentheses corresponds to location of tributary in Fig. 7.)


Lake Erie

Tributary Information

Table 6 provides details on the application of lampricide to Big Creek (Fig. 7). The following statement highlights the treatment program on Lake Erie.

Canada


Table 6. Details on the application of lampricide to one tributary of Lake Erie in 1996. (Number in parentheses corresponds to location of stream in Fig. 7.)


Lake Ontario

Tributary Information

Table 7 provides details on the application of lampricides to 12 tributaries of Lake Ontario (Fig. 7). The following statements highlight the treatment program.


Table 7. Details on the application of lampricides to tributaries of Lake Ontario, 1996 (Number in parentheses corresponds to location of tributary in Fig. 7.)


ALTERNATIVE CONTROL

Sterile Male Release Technique

Research on the use of the sterile male release technique (technique) in sea lamprey control began in 1971. The technique has been used experimentally in Lake Superior and the St. Marys River since 1991. Male sea lampreys are captured during their spawning migrations in seven tributaries of Lakes Michigan and Huron and transported to the sterilization facility at the Lake Huron Biological Station. At the facility, lampreys are sterilized with the chemosterilant bisazir, decontaminated, and released into selected tributaries of Lake Superior and the St. Marys River. Laboratory and field studies have shown that treated male lampreys are sterile and sexually competitive, and the number of larvae that hatch in streams is reduced with the technique.

The Sterile Male Release Technique Task Force was established in 1984 to refine the long-term strategy for the application of sterile male release and to coordinate the current large-scale research program into the effectiveness of sterile male release in Lake Superior and the St. Marys River. The report of progress of the Task Force is presented on pages 63 to 68.

The following statements highlight the sterile male release program for 1996.


Table 8. The estimated number of resident male lampreys and the number of sterile male lampreys released into 23 tributaries of Lake Superior from May 24 to June 24, 1996 (listed by country and ordered by location, west to east) and the theoretical reduction in numbers of sea lamprey progeny. The predicted ratio of sterile to resident males in 1996 was 0.6:1.


Barriers

The Commission has expressed a strong commitment to reductions in use of TFM through the implementation of alternative lamprey control strategies, including the use of barriers to sea lamprey migration. The 1994 basin-wide barrier plan was revised by the U.S. and Canadian barrier coordinators in 1996 with additional economic and biological data. The plan now includes 157 potential projects on 145 Great Lakes streams.

A total of 54 barrier dams have been constructed or modified to stop sea lampreys on tributaries of the Great Lakes: 12 on Lake Superior, 11 on Lake Michigan (including the Paw Paw River barrier which is in the planning stages), 11 on Lake Huron, 7 on Lake Erie, and 13 on Lake Ontario (Fig. 8).

The sea lamprey barrier task force was established in 1991 to expand the development and use of sea lamprey barriers. The report on progress in 1996 is presented on page 69.

The following statements highlight the barrier projects on each lake.

Lake Superior

Lake Michigan

Lake Huron

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario


Fig. 8. Location of barrier dams constructed or modified to stop spawning sea lamprey migrations.



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