To roust the larvae from their burrows, specialized electrical equipment is used to deliver current through the water that initially provokes the larvae to swim then temporarily stuns them to enable collection. After locating lamprey-colonized streams, scientific sampling strategies are used to produce population estimates for each stream. These population assessment data are ultimately used to justify trapping and barriers and chemical lamprey control efforts in the Lake Champlain Basin.

This summer, no new populations of sea lamprey were discovered during routine stream detection surveys in Vermont, New York, and Québec. The Salmon River, Ausable River, Little Ausable River, and Putnam Creek in New York and Lewis Creek in Vermont were thoroughly surveyed as known producers of sea lamprey. All surveys yielded estimates of substantial populations that affirmed the need for control in 2006. Surveys in Vermont on Malletts Creek, Trout Brook, and Stonebridge Brook indicated that trapping of spawning adult sea lamprey has been largely successful in preventing significant recolonization of these former lamprey-producing streams, thereby precluding the need for chemical application.

The low-water conditions this year in the Lamoille River of Vermont allowed a rare opportunity for a quantitative assessment survey and revealed a previously undocumented population of sea lamprey downstream of Peterson Dam, which warrants consideration of control options. Surveys to detect and quantify sea lamprey will continue throughout the Lake Champlain Basin annually, ensuring that the lamprey control program effectively targets the sources of lamprey production.

Please contact Dr. Bradley Young or Wayne Bouffard at (802) 872-0629 for additional information.