HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1966-11-17, Page 14nemy _Of
Nature's Darlings
s
9
The enemy" is -one of nature's
darlings, having survive d
through millions of years with:
out the stages of evolution com-
mon to other creatures.
Its name is the sea lamprey;
its origin the sea; its shape eel-
like; ifs object to kill, as many
lake trout and whitefish as it
can.
The sea lamprey—petrorrryzon
marinus--i§ harmless during the
first years "of- its life as an arn-
mocoe•te Or larva. But during
the last 12 to 18 months it
feeds by- attaching itself to the
sire :of its victim and sucking
out blood and b.:dy juicLs.
tf it hadn't been for man, the
sea- lamprey would never have
reached four of the five Great
Lakes. Until the 19th century
Niagai4cFalls prevented it from
advancing into Lake Erie from
its natural habitat. the North
Atlantic.
But with the ;building of tom.
Welland Canal the door was
opened to the upper Great Lakes
iwhere large trout and whitefish
roamed in abundance.
It took the lamprey con.uri 's
to deviate. from its normal
spawning pattern. At the end
of its life it would invade rivers
running into the sea to spawn.
The young into,
after re-
maining buried in the river mud,
for several years, woi1d return
to the sea with an appetite for
large game fish.
Once it had settled down in
Lake Ontario, where sone re-
mained at maturity ins;'. ad .;f
returning to the sea, an::cher. ,
century passed. -_before it navi-
wasted Federdtion
853 nnual Banqu
Goderich Township Federa-
tion of Agriculture held its an-
nual banquet • meeting in
Holmesville United Church last
Thursday. Although adverse
weather conditions nrevailed,
90 persons attended.
• Entertainment was provided
by Mrs. Jack Van'Egmand, dur-
ing land after the banquet.
Prominent among the guests
were: Don Pullen, the depart-
ment, of agriculture; Harry
Oakes, township council;
Charles Thomas, Brussels, coun-
ty federation of agriculture,
and Lloyd Bond who presented
the prizes and certificate to the
farm improvement winners in
tl 0V114#lr;..0 Billr44r_
�. x riffs - ani'<.ai-`tobb.
Guest speaxer IUI; the event
was James Shearer, • Brigid, a
former agricultural repeesenta-
tive in Huron, presently farm-
ing. -
Mr. Shearer recalled events
and people within the township
that were prominent during his
term here in the county. He
expressed concern over the un -
decisive attitude of many of
the Canadian people and sug-
gested that we need evolution
rather than revolution.
"Let's keep Canada one na-
tion ,and also have one united _
farm organization1 ajlerept;
us, rather than two divided or-
ganizations," he said.
Mr Shearer told of a recent
trip to the western provinces
and noted how progressive and
impressive things looked the?%.
as compared to other years.
He stressed the importance
of our export markets and tour-
ist trade and finished his talk
by urging everyone to nay at-
tention to anything tha; will
help Canada along.
He left his audience with the
impression that Canada was a
..wonderful country and that he
was glad to be one of it; citi-
zens. •
gated through the Welland Can-
al. And instead of returning
either to Lake Ontario or the
sea, several lamprey headed the
ether way into Lake Erie. There
'they were first noticed in 1921.
Shallow.. ,warm, Lake. St. Clair
pre.; ntcd another; natural bar-
. Tier to the .lamprey which is
.accustomed to cold water. But
15 years after the invasion of
Lake Erie, the lamprey, wlt•ich
„grows to a length of three feet
in the sea but only about two
feet in fresh water, had proved
on to Lake Huron. A decade
later it was at work in Lake
Michigan.
\1r'•ith each female lamprey lay-
ing about 60.000 eggs, of which
60 per cent are 'said to hatch,
it was easy work for the invader
to suck up the whitefish and
trout, both of which 'happen to
prefer the rocky shoals favored
by the hungry eels.
By 1947 lake trout catches in
Lake Huron had ,been, reduced
to virtually nil from 3,400,000
pounds in 1937. In Lake Mich-
iean, • the catch was dawn to
500 pounds in 1951 from. 6,600,-• '
901) in 1946.
By 1945 the lamprey was es-
tablished in Lake Superior. In
the early 1950s, -'when it serious-
ly threatened the last strong-
hold o•f the trout and whitefish,
man decided to intervene in the
ba tfl`e.
The decision came not a imi-0-
ute - loo soon-. A 1953 curve "
showed that 11,A! per cent or
the lake trout caught in Lake
Superior bore lamprey sears.
What percentage had been kill-
ed could never be determined.
During those years attempts
-were, made to bloekade lamprey-
-spawning grourbtis' with river
barriers, some of the'ni electrical
and costing $3,000 to $4,000 a-
piece. But in the depth of the
lake landpri'ys had a feast on the
'defenceless tish.
Commercial tisherunerr were
feeling the result every, time
they -hauled• in their nets. 'In
1954, lake trout catches in Lake
Superior had dru.pped to 05,000
pounds.. Four year' earlier fish-
ermen had hauled '4,500,000
pounds of trout from the lake.
Results of early -experiments
with mechanical river barriers
\aero encouraging although
flocds, heavy plecivpitation and
floating logs often damaged the
weirs,. allowing adult lampreys
to slip through to their spawn-
ing grounds.
Electrical barriers were more
successful. Eft-c'trodcs did not
present as large an obstacle,"to•
debris, but floating objects did
often shdnt,circuit the two pales,
putting generators out of ac-
tion.
In 1956 Canada and the [United
States joined up in tthe Great
L fkcs Fisheries Commission and
6,IV The Goderich Signal -Star,• Thursday, November 17, 196
declared war on ,the lamprey.
Previously efforts to control it
had been carried on by fisheries
departments and agencies oLthe
two countries.
Biologists soon realized that
the barrier -program would not
be sufficient' tb stamp out the
killed. The electrical barriers
killed only the adult lampreys,
leaving the young in the river
mud to niature, a process es-
tinrat,d to take three to six.
years:
The next lime of attack was
poison to attack the young in
their habitat. After 'testing more
than 5,000 chemical combina-
lions, the U.S. fish and wildlife
service found a ppoison that
.would kill the yo.unlg laanprey
but leave other species virtually
unharmed.
The first full-scale cheanical
attack was launched in 1959. 'A
year later the lamprey popul-
ation in Lake Superior had more
than doubled and the lake trout
population was down.
-The reason was.a natural one.
lake trout start spawning at
about seven years of age when
they weigh three to five pounds.
But that is also the size'laimprey
prefer. Consequently. while the
700,000 lake trout yearlings'
planted in Lake Superior in 1959
survived unmolested, spawning
trout Were nearly extinct.
By the cud of 1960, scientists -
technicians'
and Fisheries
of
the
Agent for 24 -hr.
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M „utle
Research Board of Canada and
the Bureau of Commercial Fish-
eries in Iiariamond I3ay, Mich.,
had treated 20 streams in Can-
ada and 52 in the United States,
with chemical lampricide
At the same time restocking
of lake trout continued. In 1960
there were 1,050,000 trout yearl-
ings planted, far short of the
7,500,000 needed annually to br-
ing the lake back to its former
level of population. But plant-
ings now are being increased.
In 1961 the lamprey popula-
tion in Lake Superior had again
doubled: But in 1962 it showed
a drop.' And in subsequent
years the trout population "in-
creased_
"We now have obtained some
measure of control over T. Tiib-
bles, director of the Sea Lam-
prey Control Station in Sault Ste.
Marie, Ont., .said recently.
But he emphasized that' the
battle is still far from won.
Lake Huron streams have un-
dergone chemical treatments but
the program there will have 'to
be accelerated.
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