Canadians should expect to bear some of the cost of combating the sea lamprey parasite in the Great Lakes for the foreseeable future, unless they want to see commercial and sports fish wiped out in short order, experts say.
Canadians should expect to bear some of the cost of combating the sea lamprey parasite in the Great Lakes for the foreseeable future, unless they want to see commercial and sports fish wiped out in short order, experts say.
"Without control programming, Great Lakes fish stocks would collapse in as little as five years," Great Lakes Fishery Commission spokesman Greg McClinchey said this week in an email.
The commission, an international agency consisting of Canadian and U.S. representatives, is to oversee about $25.5 million in lamprey control and research programs in 2026.
Since the two countries began working together to control lamprey about 70 years ago,
"invasive lamprey populations in the Great Lakes have been reduced by more than 90 per cent," McClinchey said.
Of the $25.5 million earmarked for next year, Canada's share is to be $13.1 million.
"I am pleased to say that each country is fully funding their share of the costs," McClinchey said.
The amount to be administered this year by Fisheries and Oceans Canada specifically is about $9 million.
Under the 2025 program, main Thunder Bay-area tributaries that flow into Lake Superior are to be treated with lampricide at various times over the summer and fall. The treatments are to include the Neebing, McIntyre, Kaministiquia and Pearl rivers, Fisheries and Oceans says.
Sea lamprey are considered a menace because they latch onto, and feed on, main commercial and sport species that are common in Lake Superior, including lake trout and white fish.
Scientists say that while lampricides kill sea-lamprey eggs, they "do not pose a risk to human health or to the environment."
"They do not remain after application and naturally break down in the environment," a Fisheries and Oceans Canada news release said.
