Filming Sea Lamprey Work With Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Battling sea lamprey in the Great Lakes is a big job. With 30 large sea lamprey trap structures around the Great Lakes, that’s a lot of maintenance and physical work year-round for technicians from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Filming work in September saw me at one of those structures located on a creek that flows into Lake Erie. Maintenance technicians were at the large metal trap and creek structure doing annual fall maintenance inspection work. Their work will ensure that the critical infrustructure is ready to begin the cycle again of preventing sea lamprey from swimming from the creek into Lake Erie.
These creek and river filming assignments are especially enjoyable because it gives me the opportunity to put on my hipwaders and take audiences virtually into the water with me for a different perspective.
The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is a parasitic fish native to the Atlantic Ocean that has become an invasive species in the Great Lakes. Resembling an eel, the sea lamprey attaches to other fish with its suction-cup-like mouth, using rows of sharp teeth to rasp through the fish’s flesh and feed on its blood and bodily fluids. This parasitic feeding weakens or kills its host, and a single sea lamprey can destroy up to 40 pounds of fish in its lifetime. Without natural predators in the Great Lakes, their population has surged, causing significant damage to the ecosystem.
The introduction of sea lampreys to the Great Lakes in the 19th century, likely through shipping canals, has had devastating effects on native fish populations, particularly commercially valuable species like lake trout, whitefish, and salmon. These species are critical not only for the ecological balance of the lakes but also for the region’s fishing industry. As a result, sea lampreys are considered a major threat to the biodiversity and economy of the Great Lakes. Efforts to control their population involve barriers, traps, and the use of lampricides, which selectively target lamprey larvae. However, managing their numbers remains a costly and ongoing battle.
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