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Control efforts reducing lamprey population

Fisheries and Oceans Canada are treating the Kaministiquia River to reduce the population a destructive fish known as the sea lamprey.

THUNDER BAY -- A single sea lamprey may kill up to 40 pounds of fish in its lifetime, says aquatic science biologist Shawn Robertson.

That's a problem as the invasive eel-like parasitic fish roams the Great Lakes and surrounding waterways without predators to keep it in check.

“The Kaministiquia River is one of our biggest producers on Lake Superior,” Robertson said. “If we don’t get rid of them, the lamprey will destroy the sport and commercial fishery of the Great Lakes.”

Sea lampreys entered the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean through man-made shipping canals, and were first detected in Lake Ontario in the 1830s.

Niagara Falls prevented sea lamprey movement into Lake Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, but when the Welland Canal was deepened in the early 1900s sea lamprey made their way into the rest of the Great Lakes.

Sea Lamprey attach to fish with their suction mouth and teeth, and use its tongue to feed on its blood and body fluids. Only one out of seven fish attacked will survive.

There are no natural predators for the lamprey in the Great Lakes, so there’s nothing to control the population other than a chemical called Lampricide TFM (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol), which has been used to control lampreys for more than 40 years.

In the 1940s and 1950s, when sea lamprey first arrived in the Great Lakes, they killed large numbers of sport fish, putting a temporary end to commercial and sport fisheries, which initiated the Lampricide program.

Robertson said the first treatments on Lake Superior started on the Canadian side in 1958.

“Since then they’ve been able to restock lake trout, the fisheries have come back and there’s a good commercial fishery in Lake Superior as well as all the other lakes because of this program," he said.

For 15 hours, Fisheries and Oceans Canada will treat an estimated 40 kilometres of the Kaministiquia River Wednesday and Thursday with Lampricides to reduce the larval sea lampreys.

Robertson and his team hope to kill roughly 95 per cent of the lamprey population during the treatment.


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Nicole Dixon

About the Author: Nicole Dixon

Born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Nicole moved to Thunder Bay, Ontario in 2008 to pursue a career in journalism. Nicole joined Tbnewswatch.com in 2015 as a multimedia producer, content developer and reporter.
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