Invasive sea lamprey numbers in the Great Lakes are still up after the pandemic limited population control methods.
Efforts to eliminate the invasive species were curbed due to workers' social distancing and restrictions on US-Canada border crossings. Now, researchers say sea lamprey are above the preferred threshold in all five Great Lakes.
Greg McClinchey, a policy director with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, said the pandemic was an "experiment no one wanted" that highlighted the importance of constant lamprey control.
"Sea lamprey are a coiled menace," McClinchey said. "Because of how fast they breed and how much they eat, it has the potential to be real bad really fast. That the minute you take your foot off the spring, it springs back."
According to the commission’s report, 2024 is the third year, where lamprey catches have been higher than usual. Researchers caught 8,619 more adult sea lamprey than the 2017-2019 pre-pandemic average of 38,167 fish.
McClinchey said it will take a few years for this generational blip to even out. Lamprey numbers are already starting to decline in lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan. See the full report for lake-specific numbers.
