Sea Lamprey Resources

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is now soliciting pre-proposals and pilot project proposals for the 2021 funding cycle. The deadline is Tuesday, January 15, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST. Proposals are evaluated for relevance and scientific merit and against information needs identified by the Research Themes under which they are submitted. Proposals are encouraged to be cross-cutting and address multiple themes. See the theme conceptual diagram (PDF | 172 KB) for examples of how themes may intersect. See Applying for Funding for more information.

Provides distribution maps and collection information (State and County).

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission today reported that populations of the invasive, parasitic sea lamprey remain at near-historic lows, below targets, in Lakes Michigan and Ontario, and above target, but holding steady, in Lakes Huron, Superior and Erie. Sea lamprey populations in Lake Huron are close to target levels and have been holding steady for the past five years. Abundances in Lakes Superior and Erie remain above target but have also decreased significantly since the near-record highs observed in 2017. Sea lampreys are the worst of the alien species to invade the Great Lakes. Before control, sea lampreys destroyed many times the human fish catch. Today, sea lamprey control is the foundation of the $7 billion Great Lakes fishery. The Commission and its partners are encouraged by the overall decrease in abundance of sea lampreys throughout the Great Lakes basin during 2019, but caution that environmental conditions, such as a prolonged spring and high precipitation events, contributed to the decrease.