Fisheries Committee on June 11th, 2012

[Dr. Chris Goddard]

They go up and then they're counted. That way, we were able to accurately map the densities of larval sea lamprey within the St. Mary's River.

Then we developed a new type of lampricide that we call granular Bayluscide. If you think of a cold capsule, those Contac Cs, we put the lampricide on the grain of sand and then we coated it with a time capsule. We would spread this granular Bayluscide over the water, it would sink to the bottom, and it would slowly dissolve right at that sediment water interface. So the lamprey, just sticking their heads up through the sediment, would take in the granular Bayluscide and would die. That was the treatment we used on the St. Mary's River, combined with a trapping initiative to eliminate as many spawning sea lamprey as we could.

What is particularly important is that not only were we able to reduce the number of lamprey in the St. Mary's River, but we were then able to significantly reduce the population of adult parasitic lamprey in the north channel of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay and in northern Lake Michigan.

We've seen a huge reduction in wounding rates in lake trout. It's critically important because I'm sure you all know the lake trout populations are starting to rebound, particularly in Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, and we're seeing a fair amount of natural reproduction in those lake trout populations.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much.

Would you consider that to be the best control method you have?

[Dr. Chris Goddard]

No, sir. I think the effectiveness of the granular Bayluscide is about 75%. When we use our lampricide, our TFM, and we apply that in streams, we are usually somewhere between 95% and 99% effective in terms of reducing larval lamprey.

[Dr. Marc Gaden]

It's important to note that's the most effective control technique we have for that river. We don't have an alternative for the St. Mary's River. It's too big to treat with the regular lampricide.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

How do you see the Asian carp? Is that waiting to happen? What's your opinion? Is it inevitable, or not?

[Robert Lambe]

It will happen if we aren't aggressive.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

So the government has to provide you with more funds.

[Robert Lambe]

Funds are an important part of it.

We talked about the canal and getting separation there. That's really important. It's not the only vector though.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

No, it has to be used correctly.

[Robert Lambe]

Yes, we've had four seizures of live Asian carp coming across the border in the last eight months or so from organizations that are farming these in the U.S. and bringing them into Canada. If they get released live into Canadian waters, that's another vector that's of great concern to us.

So the regulations are really important, and enforcement of those regulations is really important.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Do you believe that most people who would bring in these species would not understand the harm they're causing. I'd like you to elaborate on your view on education and dollars spent on education.

[Robert Lambe]

You're absolutely right. That's why we're pleased to see that, in the announcement of the $17.5 million, there is a specific line for education and outreach.

We have experience getting to the population, the target audience in other areas, be it recreational boaters or...we have similar issues with the movement of pests in firewood, for example. Being able to get to campers and not moving pests through firewood movement has incredibly positive results. So it is really prudent to invest a significant portion of any moneys that are available in education and outreach and in finding the target audience so it has maximum benefit.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much. Well said.

The odd time the government can do something right.

Most of the funding you receive seems to go to sea lamprey. What other funding do you have, or do you use any funding other than what's spent on sea lamprey?

[Dr. Marc Gaden]

Under the Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries of 1954, we have a direct responsibility to control sea lamprey. It's a boots-on-the-ground program, so that should naturally take up about 90% of our budget.

But out of the five duties the fishery commission has in the treaty, specifically, four of those deal with research. We have a mandate under the treaty to make sure the United States and Canada are marching in the same direction on fishery research, so we spend $2 million to $3 million a year on that.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Basically, the rapport and the regulations between the two countries, does that cause you many problems or not?

[Dr. Marc Gaden]

It's a relatively small part of our budget, but it's a huge part of what we do in the fishery commission. So we get an awful lot of cooperation for a relatively small portion of our budget.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

You have three strategies for stopping invasive species. Could you just rank them in their importance.

[Robert Lambe]

In terms of control, do you mean?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Yes.

[Robert Lambe]

Overall?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Yes, in your opinion.

[Robert Lambe]

Rank the control mechanisms?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Which do you think should be—

[Robert Lambe]

Of invasive species, okay. I know others may have different views on this. On sea lamprey, if I understand your question correctly, we have a lot of evidence that, if you cut back on control of sea lamprey, they shoot up in population extremely quickly. There's a strong correlation between increases in the population and impacts on fisheries. Unfortunately, we found that out the hard way. So the war on sea lamprey is really critical, and unfortunately it's ongoing, so that's critical.

Asian carp is obviously one that is very significant right now. Ninety per cent of the biomass in the Mississippi basin right now is Asian carp. They have simply taken over, so to think of that kind of thing happening in the Great Lakes is unconscionable. We have, as we said in our statement, 185 known invasive species in the Great Lakes. Over and above those there are zebra mussels, and we all know the story about how much consequence they've caused. There's been some success with some of those over the years, but I think there's sea lamprey, Asian carp, and then there's the rest, I would say.

Would you disagree with that, Dr. Goddard?

[Dr. Chris Goddard]

Could I just add one quick thing that I think is important? This is that in terms of our strategies for control of sea lamprey, clearly, the application of lampricide in streams is most important. Our second is the use of barriers to block spawning adults from reaching the spawning grounds.