MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A barrier on a Quebec river is already preventing sea lamprey from swimming upstream to breed, but it will be four years before the last of the eel-like parasites are gone from the river, a biologist said Thursday.
Since the barrier on the Morpion Creek, a tributary of the Pike River just north of the Vermont border, began operation last week it has stopped more than two dozen lamprey from traveling upstream to breed, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fisheries biologist Bradley Young.
It will take four years for the lamprey already in the river to mature and leave, he said.
“We are going to just have to wait them out,” Yougn said. “But after four years we should then have no lamprey.”
Sea lamprey prey on fish in Lake Champlain, especially lake trout and salmon. Controlling them improves the health of the other fish in the lake.
The completion of the barrier in the Quebec town of Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge means that all 26 Lake Champlain tributaries where lamprey breed can now be controlled, Young said. In Vermont and New York, biologists use a chemical in the tributaries to kill the young lamprey. The use of such chemicals is not allowed in Quebec.
Sea lamprey that reach the barrier are disposed of. Other fish species are caught and let go above the barrier, Young said.
Vermont U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy worked to secure nearly $1.3 million for the barrier through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
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