The Lake Champlain Sea Lamprey Control Program: Opportunities for Adaptive Management Eammon Coughlin, Dan Jenkins, Nate Anderson, Eric Davis, Tomas Glaspy

Statement of Purpose  Reevaluate the sea lamprey control program as part of an adaptive management scheme  Assess alternative non-toxin based treatment methods  Make recommendations for further research and program expansion

Lamprey life history  Larval Stage  Transformers  Spawning

The Problem  Health of Lake Champlain and its tributaries is important for Vermont and New York residents  The Lake Champlain basin itself supports a 2.9 billion dollar a year tourism market that is crucial to the economy of both Vermont and New York

Experimental Control Program  Produced a 3.5:1 benefit to cost ratio  Trap catches decreased 80-90% between 1989 and 1997  Produced lower lamprey wounding rates and increased survival for the 3-4 year old age class of lake trout

Lamprey as a native species  A paper from the University of Michigan indicates that lamprey are most likely native to Lake Champlain and have existed here for 11,500 years  This may raise important management questions as it indicates that high lamprey populations may be a human induced problem

The Problem (cont.)  Uncontrolled lamprey populations pose risk to fish populations in the Lake and its tributaries  Extensive lampricide use can pose a risk to the health and integrity of the Lake and its tributaries

Two Main Lampricides  3-trifluoro-methyl-4- nitrophenol (TFM)  niclosamide 5-chloro- N-(2-chloro-4-nitro- phenyl)-2-hydroxy- benzamide (Bayer 73)

TFM and Bayer 73  EPA’s 1999 report reveals that “there are ecological concerns with the use of these compounds since impacts are expected to non-target aquatic organism populations; however, the benefits of controlling the populations of sea lamprey are expected to out weigh the risks to aquatic organisms.”

Non-Target Species  Northern Brook Lamprey and American Brook Lamprey  Stone Cat, log perch, bluntnose minnow  Crayfish, Mudpuppy, Red-spotted Newt, Mussel Species  Mayfly nymphs

Alternative Treatment Methods  traps  barriers  sterilization  attractants and pheromones

Lamprey Traps  targets spawning adult lamprey  most effective where lamprey concentrations are highest  success depends on high catch efficiency

Barrier Dams  designed to impede spawning migration of adult lamprey  limited by cost, environmental suitability, or problems with restricting migratory fish passage  most effective when used in conjunction with traps

Sterilization Program  requires utilization of highly toxic and mutagenic chemical Bisazir  no sterilization facilities nearby, would have to ship adult males to Michigan  sterilized males would have to significantly outnumber non-sterile males to have any impact on reproduction potential

Attractants and Pheromones  use bile salts produced by larval lamprey to attract adults to unsuitable spawning habitat or traps  use lamprey sex pheromones to make sterilized males able to outcompete non- sterile males  both techniques currently being researched and not yet viable alternatives

Conclusions  Lampricides cause mortality in many non- target species  The long term ecological effects of these poisons is unknown  Research shows that lamprey were once native, indicating that there may have been some sort of historical balance in their populations

Recommendations  promotion and expansion of riparian and wetland restoration programs  further research into long term effects of lampricide exposure on individual species, ecosystems, and food webs  modify goals and objectives to embrace experimentation and annually decrease lampricide usage

Recommendations (cont.)  improve and expand barrier and trapping methods to increase effectiveness  develop lampricides that more specifically target the physiology and biology of lamprey  expand public education programs to inform citizens and fishery users about lamprey control programs

Acknowledgements  Team Ramrod would like to thank Ellen Marsden and Breck Bowden for taking the time to meet with our group and provide information and recommendations to guide the development of our project