The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will soon review the various components and proposed actions of the Sea Lamprey Program, identify potential impacts to protected species and habitats, and suggest conservation measures that will avoid or minimize disturbance to listed species and habitats. 

The report, which focuses on Michigan, will provide the framework to continue consultation with ecological services offices in Region 3 that border the state of Michigan. The Service delivers a program of integrated sea lamprey control in the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes as a contracted agent of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

The Sea Lamprey Control Program, is charged with the management of sea lampreys in the Great Lakes.  Removal of the parasitic fish requires the treatment of natal streams with lampricides, the assessment and classification of those streams for larval population size and distribution, and the monitoring and statistical analysis of adult populations.  Because these procedures require extensive on-the-ground field work, there is the possibility of direct and indirect impacts on Federally-listed threatened, endangered and candidate species and critical habitats that occur within the action area.

Annually, more than 200 streams are assessed to estimate sea lamprey populations and about 50 streams are treated with lampricides to control sea lamprey populations.  Positive streams, containing significant, recurring sea lamprey populations, are treated every three to five years on a rotating basis.  Negative streams are periodically surveyed.  In addition, the Program traps about 50 streams during the spawning run to estimate adult sea lamprey populations.