Lamprey Eel Information Update

[dreamsteelie]

Folks,

Let's all keep the discussion in check and related to this, please.  I reached out to my contact at the GLFC this week to clarify some of the good discussion topics on the other thread and to get some up to date information on how things have been done recently and or in the past. See the answers below: Some of this was not known to myself, so it was good to get some clarifications-because things to change.  Some of this information ties into what several of you posted, like seeing some CND DFO folks on the US side in one particular instance.

 

Not sure how many took the time to reach out to their congressman via email or written but we did so in PA.  Will it help?  It cannot hurt.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) conducts stream treatments on behalf of the GLFC in U.S. tributaries and waters of the Great Lakes. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) conducts stream treatments on behalf of the GLFC in Canadian tributaries and waters of the Great Lakes. A wrinkle is that DFO also conducts some stream treatments in the U.S. – mainly on U.S. tributaries to Lake Ontario

 

See answer to 1. above. Also, the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assists the GLFC in some aspects of sea lamprey control (quality assurance testing and regulatory agency compliance for lampricides and construction and maintenance of sea lamprey barriers, respectively). We also partner with many State, Tribal, and First Nation entities on various aspects of sea lamprey control as well.

 

Trout or salmon kills associated with stream treatments are rare. I am not aware of any recent ones in Lake Ontario tributaries on either side of the border. These rare incidents typically occur with chinook salmon and only when treatments overlap spawning runs when fish are already stressed and near death.

 

I have attached last year’s treatment schedule. These are posted on the GLFC website (www.glfc.org) when available (usually during the spring of each year). They are usually under the “Hot Topics” portion of the website.

 

12 permanent employees were fired. 6 were tasked with stream treatments; 5 were tasked with larval assessment surveys that are used to guide stream treatments; 1 was tasked with sea lamprey barrier work. We also lost 5 additional permanent employees to the Deferred Resignation Program. We have not been able to backfill any of these positions. These 17 employees account for 20% of permanent staff. Additionally, a hiring freeze prevented the timely hiring of 25 seasonal staff needed to fill out sea lamprey control crews. The hiring freeze has since been lifted and we are proceeding with hiring these staff, however, the delay will result in these staff not being available at the start of the field season. As things stand now, we are going to lose about a third of our capacity to control sea lamprey during 2025

 

We are still waiting for a transmitter that is small enough to insert into sea lamprey without affecting their behavior. Research is ongoing and I believe some will be tagged with transmitters this year, but this will mostly be to see how the lamprey behave with the transmitter in them (compared to those without a transmitter). We have other ways of finding spawning streams too.

 

. www.sealamprey.org will get you a lot of information about sea lamprey control.

 

Captain Pete

Vision Quest Sport Fishing

[spoonfed-1]

  8 hours ago, dreamsteelie said:

Folks,

Let's all keep the discussion in check and related to this, please.  I reached out to my contact at the GLFC this week to clarify some of the good discussion topics on the other thread and to get some up to date information on how things have been done recently and or in the past. See the answers below: Some of this was not known to myself, so it was good to get some clarifications-because things to change.  Some of this information ties into what several of you posted, like seeing some CND DFO folks on the US side in one particular instance.

 

Not sure how many took the time to reach out to their congressman via email or written but we did so in PA.  Will it help?  It cannot hurt.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) conducts stream treatments on behalf of the GLFC in U.S. tributaries and waters of the Great Lakes. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) conducts stream treatments on behalf of the GLFC in Canadian tributaries and waters of the Great Lakes. A wrinkle is that DFO also conducts some stream treatments in the U.S. – mainly on U.S. tributaries to Lake Ontario

 

See answer to 1. above. Also, the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assists the GLFC in some aspects of sea lamprey control (quality assurance testing and regulatory agency compliance for lampricides and construction and maintenance of sea lamprey barriers, respectively). We also partner with many State, Tribal, and First Nation entities on various aspects of sea lamprey control as well.

 

Trout or salmon kills associated with stream treatments are rare. I am not aware of any recent ones in Lake Ontario tributaries on either side of the border. These rare incidents typically occur with chinook salmon and only when treatments overlap spawning runs when fish are already stressed and near death.

 

I have attached last year’s treatment schedule. These are posted on the GLFC website (www.glfc.org) when available (usually during the spring of each year). They are usually under the “Hot Topics” portion of the website.

 

12 permanent employees were fired. 6 were tasked with stream treatments; 5 were tasked with larval assessment surveys that are used to guide stream treatments; 1 was tasked with sea lamprey barrier work. We also lost 5 additional permanent employees to the Deferred Resignation Program. We have not been able to backfill any of these positions. These 17 employees account for 20% of permanent staff. Additionally, a hiring freeze prevented the timely hiring of 25 seasonal staff needed to fill out sea lamprey control crews. The hiring freeze has since been lifted and we are proceeding with hiring these staff, however, the delay will result in these staff not being available at the start of the field season. As things stand now, we are going to lose about a third of our capacity to control sea lamprey during 2025

 

We are still waiting for a transmitter that is small enough to insert into sea lamprey without affecting their behavior. Research is ongoing and I believe some will be tagged with transmitters this year, but this will mostly be to see how the lamprey behave with the transmitter in them (compared to those without a transmitter). We have other ways of finding spawning streams too.

 

. www.sealamprey.org will get you a lot of information about sea lamprey control.

 

Captain Pete

Vision Quest Sport Fishing

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[LongLine]

Thanx for the update.