Sat, Nov 07 2009
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Published July 05, 2009 11:56 pm - Crews will survey Conneaut creek and Grand River lentic areas and Huron River to find sea lampreys. Outdoors Insider, with Dale Sunderlin: On the lookout for lampreys DALE SUNDERLIN Star Beacon Crews will survey Conneaut creek and Grand River lentic areas and Huron River to find sea lampreys.
The continuing battle against sea lampreys soon will come to locations in the local area. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assessment crew will conduct work offshore of Conneaut Creek in Ashtabula County, the Grand River in Lake County and in the Huron River in Erie County during July 7-16 to detect the presence of sea lampreys. The information gathered will be used to determine the need for sea lamprey control. Leading off A first step in the control of sea lampreys is to survey streams tributary to the Great Lakes to determine the presence of larval sea lampreys. Sea lampreys invaded the Great Lakes in the 1920s and have been a permanent, destructive element of the fishery ever since. Sea lampreys attach to fish with a suction cup mouth, rasp a hole through the fish’s scales and skin, and feed on blood and body fluids. The average sea lamprey will destroy up to 40 pounds of fish during its parasitic phase. Sea lamprey larvae hatch from eggs laid by adult lampreys in gravel nests, and drift into silty bottom areas where they burrow and live for several years. Also, larvae sometimes drift out of streams and settle in the immediate offshore areas near stream mouths. Failure to detect and subsequently eliminate larvae allows the lampreys to metamorphose into parasitic adults and kill Great Lakes fish. Control measures Fishery biologists and technicians conduct surveys for sea lamprey larvae in hundreds of Great Lakes streams each year. Most surveys are conducted by electro fishing, but in deep waters crews use Bayluscide 3.2% Granular Sea Lamprey Larvicide, a lampricide approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency. This lampricide is specially formulated onto sand granules and covered with a time-release coating. The formulation is sprayed over a measured surface area of water where it sinks to the bottom, rapidly dissolves, and causes the larval sea lampreys to leave their burrows and swim to the surface where they are collected. Surveys using Bayluscide are scheduled for several areas in the Huron River and adjacent to the mouth of the Grand River and Conneaut Creek between July 7 and 16. Exact timing of the surveys depends on local weather conditions. No human risk The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency have reviewed human health and environmental safety data for lampricides and in 2003 concluded that Bayluscide poses no unreasonable risk to the general population and the environment when applied at concentrations necessary to detect larval sea lampreys. Applications are conducted in accordance with Michigan and Ohio permits. Program bosses The sea lamprey control program is formulated and implemented by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Geological Survey. The Commission initiated chemical control of sea lampreys in 1958. Since that time the highly successful program has contributed significantly to the maintenance of the $4 billion Great Lakes sport and commercial fisheries. 
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