A vehicle wrap draped on a utility trailer advertises the success of the sea lamprey management program (Photo courtesy of Michael Fodale, Marquette, MI, 2010) - Photo Credit: n/a

The Sea Lamprey Management Program routinely staffs numerous boat and sportsmen shows and fairs each year giving high profile to the business of controlling the pest in the Great Lakes.  To draw even more attention to the program and the valuable work that is being done to minimize such parasitic populations around the Great Lakes, staff at the Marquette Biological Station, in cooperation with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, recently contracted with a local manufacturer to dress up a utility trailer used to house and transport a professional quality display used at these shows. 

Silkscreen panels, called vehicle wraps, showing sea lampreys and their hosts were developed using computer aided design software and then permanently draped over the trailer giving the illusion of sea lampreys in an aquarium.  The panels also acknowledge our partners and indicate the success of the management program. 

Initial feedback from the public and other show presenters has been very positive and seems to be getting the word out about the success of the management program, even more so than our normal effort.  Plans are currently underway to drape additional trailers used in the program, including those that transport equipment for lampricide treatments to provide even more exposure for the program.  So, if you are driving down the highway one day and think you saw a sea lamprey swimming by, you just might be right!

The Service’s sea lamprey management program continues to work closely with partners to control populations of sea lampreys in tributaries of the Great Lakes to protect the fishery and related economic activities in the basin (an estimated annual benefit of $7-8 billion/year to the region).  The Service delivers a program of integrated sea lamprey control in U.S. waters of the Great Lakes as a contracted agent of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.