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 The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, working cooperatively with the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service
is actively working to restore and enhance important fisheries in Lake
Champlain.
Sea lamprey control is a vital component of these efforts. The sea lamprey's
aggressive, parasitic behavior allows it to attack and often kill fish
by draining body fluids through a suction cup-shaped mouth filled with rasp-like teeth.
Many species of fish, including lake trout, landlocked Atlantic salmon, walleye
and the endangered lake sturgeon are affected. Sea lamprey infestation has decimated
fisheries throughout the Great Lakes, the Finger Lakes in New York and Lake Champlain.
There are currently 20 lake Champlain tributaries where sea lampreys are known to
reproduce. Nine of these streams are in Vermont. Biologists are using use a variety
of methods to control sea lamprey, including trapping adults in smaller spawning
streams, construction and maintenance of barriers on certain streams to prevent sea
lampreys from reaching spawning areas, and periodic use of chemical lampricides to
kill young sea lamprey in some larger streams and rivers. Research is continuing to
develop new non-chemical control methods to reduce our reliance on the use of
lampricides in the future.
Go to the following links for more information on sea lamprey control.
Lake Champlain Sea Lamprey Control page - http://www.ChamplainLamprey.org
Important Web Sites for further information:
Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Lake Champlain Sea
Lamprey Control Program: http://www.fws.gov/r5lcfwro/lamprey_reports.htm
Great Lakes Fisheries Commission: http://www.glfc.org/
US Fish and Wildlife Service Great Lakes Sea Lamprey Management
Program: http://midwest.fws.gov/Marquette/
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