NEWS RELEASE
GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION
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As Hammond Bay Biological Station celebrates its diamond anniversary, we’re taking a look back at its remarkable history as a source of innovation and discovery that led to one of the greatest success stories in invasive species control and fishery management worldwide.
Seventy-five years ago today—on March 21, 1950—the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard granted a permit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to transition the former U.S. Life-Saving Service and U.S. Coast Guard Station, Hammond Bay, located near Rogers City, Michigan, to a new mission as a biological station. The newly designated station was tasked with conducting science to control a Great Lakes menace—the invasive sea lamprey. At that moment, sea lampreys—parasitic fish native to the Atlantic Ocean—were wreaking havoc on Great Lakes fish and the economically valuable fisheries they support.
The invasion of sea lampreys into the Great Lakes began in the mid-1800s, first in Lake Ontario, then eventually spreading to the remaining Great Lakes in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1950, sea lamprey populations had exploded, numbering 2.5 million individuals at their peak. With each sea lamprey capable of killing up to 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of fish during its parasitic stage, sea lamprey populations were destroying a staggering 110 million pounds (50 million kilograms) of fish each year. The effects on the Great Lakes region were dramatic and devastating. Populations of large-bodied fish, such as lake trout and whitefish, plummeted. Coastal economies collapsed. Tens of thousands of people lost their livelihoods. Communities across the region that relied on fisheries were devastated.
But amidst this ruin, the voices of the people of the region rose loud and clear, asking for an effective control program for this invasive species. The first step toward finding control methods was to understand more about the life cycle of sea lampreys. Research on sea lampreys first began in earnest in the late 1940s at a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp in northeastern Michigan and was led by a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Vernon Applegate. While working at the camp, Applegate recommended a move to the nearby (then abandoned) Hammond Bay Station, perfectly situated on the shores of Lake Huron in the epicenter of the sea lamprey invasion.
In early 1950, Applegate moved his research program to the station and formed a dedicated team of mostly locals, many veterans of World War II, to undertake the heroic effort to develop control methods for sea lampreys. Within 10 years, station scientists discovered nearly all the sea lamprey control methods that are still in use today, namely lampricides and barriers, along with various styles of traps. Though in rudimentary forms, these control methods showed significant promise. The tasks of the coming decades were to continue to develop new methods of control, test methods in a variety of environments, and find formulations and configurations that allowed the methods to be implemented at the vast scale of the Great Lakes—a substantial ecological, geographical, and jurisdictional challenge.
In 1955, the next major milestone in the history of the sea lamprey control program occurred—the establishment of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission by treaty between the United States and Canada. The mission given to the Commission was to control invasive sea lampreys, coordinate fisheries research, and facilitate cooperative fishery management among state, provincial, tribal, and federal agencies. The Commission soon developed partnerships with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to serve as the boots on the ground to implement the sea lamprey control program, while providing direction to scientists at Hammond Bay Biological Station who continued research on refinement of current—and investigations of potential new—control methods.
By the late 1950s, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and partners were ready to begin what would become a decades-long roll-out of the sea lamprey control program across the Great Lakes region. After tests in tributaries to Lake Huron in 1957, the first lampricide application with the intent to control larval sea lamprey populations occurred in Lake Superior’s Mosquito River in 1958. Applications soon followed in Lake Michigan in the 1960s, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario in the 1970s, and finally Lake Erie in the 1980s. The result? By the early 2000s, sea lampreys were under strong control.
Today, sea lamprey populations have been reduced by 90 per cent in most areas of the Great Lakes. Native fish populations are recovering, including lake trout populations in Lake Superior which were recently deemed fully restored. Great Lakes fisheries are valued at over $5.1 billion annually to the region. The Great Lakes recreational fishery generates $4 billion in retail sales, nearly $2 billion in wages, and directly supports 35,000 jobs in addition to hundreds of thousands of jobs related to tourism, navigation, and more. Across the board, Great Lakes fisheries are a significant economic driver of the region.
Hammond Bay Biological Station scientists continue to make discoveries that advance the sea lamprey control program as well as native fish restoration. The station is now a field station of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Great Lakes Science Center, still receiving its funding and direction for science from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Station scientists are developing new methods to further reduce sea lamprey populations where current control methods are less effective. Scientists are also studying how to raise sea lampreys throughout their entire life cycle in the lab to identify additional vulnerabilities for control, especially those with the potential to eradicate Great Lakes sea lampreys. And many station scientists are generating science to restore native Great Lakes fish species, including projects focused on obtaining better estimates of fish population sizes, reducing barriers to spawning migrations, determining spawning behavior and habitat use, and providing science to assist with remediation of degraded habitats. The wealth of scientific information generated by station scientists throughout the station’s history is considerable–hundreds of scientific journal articles, book chapters, popular science articles, and more have been published which have immensely enriched our collective knowledge of sea lampreys, native fish, fisheries, and Great Lakes ecosystems
As we look back through the last 75 years, our team at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission is honored to highlight this rich history at Hammond Bay Biological Station. The station has played a significant role in restoring Great Lakes fisheries, reinvigorating coastal communities, and protecting our way of life in the Great Lakes region. Cheers to 75 years of saving fish and fisheries through the science at Hammond Bay Biological Station!
Curious to learn more about the history of Hammond Bay Biological Station and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s sea lamprey control program? Check out the documentary, The Fish Thief: A Great Lakes Mystery, now streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
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