Sex-life studies could undo lamprey
By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist
Most experts consider the use of lampricide the most effective way of reducing sea lamprey numbers, at least in the initial stages of control when they need to be drastically reduced to give the fishery a chance to bounce back.
After that, in places like the Great Lakes, ongoing lampricide treatments coupled with barriers and, to a lesser extent, sterilization have kept the lamprey in check, something we have not done with Lake Champlain.
Once control and reduction of these parasites begins, then other options can be looked at as supplements to lampricide.
One such option could be the use of a sex pheromone.
Scientists at Michigan State University have isolated a compound that male sea lampreys send out up to 65 yards downriver to attract female sea lampreys, according to an April 5 article in "Science." Such an attractant scent, duplicated in a lab, may be used to lure and trap lampreys or, as one researcher suggested, develop ways to foil their courtship.
The goal in the Great Lakes has been to keep sea lampreys at about 10 percent of their peak of the 1940s and ’50s, when the Great Lakes fishery crashed. We are not anywhere near that stage in Lake Champlain.
After these parasites are finally brought under control (we can only hope Vermont will go through with its commitment to using lampricide), then other supplements like barriers, sterilization and maybe even sex pheromones can be explored.