Perspectives on More Than a Half-Century of Sea Lamprey Control in the Great Lakes

The sea lamprey control program in the Great Lakes exemplifies coordinated and integrated bi-national fisheries management, and stands as the only successful control program for a non-indigenous, aquatic vertebrate pest species at the ecosystem level.  Since the mid-1900s the program has evolved by integrating experience and research and adapting to changes in the environment.  Lampricides remain the backbone of the control program, but various other tools such as barriers and trapping augment control efforts under the right circumstances.  Although sea lamprey populations in each lake have been reduced to about 10% of their peak levels, there is still work to be done as spawning-phase sea lamprey abundance estimates and sea lamprey wounding rates on lake trout are still above targets in at least some of the lakes.  Enhancement of current control strategies and development of new strategies are needed to further enhance sea lamprey control, bring their populations to target levels, and minimize the damage they inflict.  Exciting new prospects for sea lamprey control loom as more knowledge is gained about chemosensory communication and the benefits of knowing the sea lamprey genome sequence are realized.  Successful sea lamprey control is critical to restoration of the Great Lakes fish communities.