Pere Marquette Watershed Council

Sponsored by the Pere Marquette Watershed Council and the Wege Foundation

Pere Marquette River

Sea Lamprey Symposium

Saturday, October 14, 2006

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Please join us for a Sea Lamprey Symposium in the WSCC Auditorium. Speakers will address the Custer Weir, chemical lampricides, the history and life cycle of lamprey in the Pere Marquette, treatment alternatives, fish passage, and recreational impact. A panel discussion will offer a chance to ask the speakers your questions.

No cost to attend. Free lunch available for those who RSVP to phone number below.

To reserve a seat, handout and be included in our lunch count, please call

231-745-4261. Signs on campus will direct you to the WSCC Auditorium.

West Shore Community College Auditorium

3000 North Stiles Road

Scottville, MI 49454

Last spring PMWC Director and Scribe Dick Schwikert authored a Mainstream treatise on the issue of sea lamprey, an invasive specie in the Great Lakes watershed. Dick’s article described a presentation by the US Fish & Wildlife Service to the PMWC Board about the sea lamprey and attempts to limit their impact on the Great Lakes and the Pere Marquette River. We hope to post this article to the PMWC website: www.peremarquette.org

As you may know, there are various methods of holding the lamprey population in check: dams, weirs, chemical treatments, sterilized males, traps and other methods still under development. As the Board has discussed these alternatives and the ecological, commercial, and recreational implications of each option it soon became apparent that this is a complicated issue with no easy solution and as many proposals as there are interest groups. Board member Bob Kennedy, a lifelong educator, proposed that the Watershed Council take the initiative to organize a Pere Marquette River Sea Lamprey Symposium for a day of education. Our goal is to become informed citizens.

The Symposium will be moderated by Chuck Pistis, an MSU Extension Agent with the Sea Grant Program. Speakers include:

• Jeff Slade (USF&WS - Ludington) speaking on management options & methods and the 2006 TFM treatment on the Pere Marquette • Greg Klinger (USF&WS – Marquette) on stream selection criteria, low head dams, barriers, sterile male programs and passage methods • Jeff Smith (Smith-Root – Vancouver, WA) on weir electric grid barriers, design, improvements, effectiveness and rationale. • Dr. Terry Hubert (US Geological Survey) on lampricides, efficacy and collateral damage. • Dr. Michael Wagner (MSU Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife) on developments in the use of pheromones in controlling lampreys. • Tom Rozich (MDNR Fisheries) on fish passage, species impacted and interruption of migration both up and down the river. • Ray Schmidt (Michigan River Guides Association) on the impact of lamprey treatments on recreational use of the river. Additional speakers on the impact of lamprey on recreational users are being sought.

The Symposium will conclude with a panel of speakers taking questions from the audience.

To register, please call 231-745-4261. Registering will insure you of a Symposium packet and a free lunch. Please join us, and invite others who care about the health of the Pere Marquette.