U.P. rivers treated for lampreys
ESCANABA — Staff members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Marquette Biological Station will be applying lampricides to several local rivers and creeks in the near future, Supervisory Fish Biologist for the Marquette Biological Station Lori Criger said.
“Actually, we’ll be working in the Escanaba area for most of the month of May, until June 8,” she said.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s tentative schedule, lampricide applications will be done between May 2 and 11 in the Rapid River, Ten Mile Creek, and Hock Creek; between May 16 and 24 in the Ford River, and between May 30 and June 8 in the Cedar River, the Bark River, and Schoolcraft County’s Dead Horse Creek. This schedule is subject to change based on weather and stream conditions.
Criger said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s lampricide treatments should not create problems for most of the fish species in the area.
“Other fish generally aren’t affected,” she said.
However, some types of fish — including logperch — are sensitive to lampricides. These chemicals can also affect suckers and salmon if they are spawning during the application process.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency, in the concentrations that will be present in treated rivers, the lampricides used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been proven to not have negative effects on humans. However, people using river water to irrigate plants should not do so while lampricide applications are ongoing.
“Irrigators should turn off their irrigation systems during the treatment,” Criger said.
Sea lampreys, which are an invasive species to the Great Lakes, have been a problem in the area for decades. They primarily (but not exclusively) prey on fine-scaled fish such as salmon and trout.
Criger said that sea lampreys spawn in tributaries of the Great Lakes, such as the rivers that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be treating next month.
“They move upstream to spawn, just like salmon would, in the spring,” she said.
After hatching, larval lampreys burrow into sediment and filter-feed for the next three to four years.
“Then, they transition into a parasitic stage and migrate into the lake,” Criger said.
The lampricides used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service target sea lampreys while they are still in their larval stage.
“The intent is to kill the larvae … before they go out of the stream and start killing fish,” Criger said.
Criger said that, as they are 95 to 99 percent effective in the field, lampricides are the most effective way to minimize the effects of lampreys on the Great Lakes.
“It’s preserving … a $7-8 billion fishery,” she said.