Latest research on sea lamprey control helps to protect Great Lakes Fisheries

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — A collaboration between scientists at Seton Hall University, Michigan State University and the U.S. Geological Survey, funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, has developed a technology using polymers for the controlled release of chemical signals into natural waterways. The purpose of this technology is to use organic chemistry and polymer/materials science to create materials for marine applications to help protect people as well as the health of the oceans and waterways by developing environmentally safe ways to control invasive species, such as the sea lamprey.

This ground-breaking research, “a simple, cost-effective emitter for controlled release of fish pheromones: development, testing and application to management of the invasive sea lamprey,” has been published in the scientific research journal, PLOS ONE.

The polymer emitter technology was developed in the laboratory of professor James E. Hanson in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Seton Hall University, and field tested by associate professor Michael Wagner of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University and Nicholas Johnson of the USGS. The polymer emitters have a simple tubular design, filled with a mixture of a slowly dissolving, biodegradable polymer and a chemical attractant or repellent.

“This sea lamprey study demonstrates the flexibility of the polymer emitter technology for release of chemical cues in aqueous environments, after previous use with sharks and trout. For the sea lamprey, this gives us another technique to be employed in sea lamprey control,” Hanson said.

The sea lamprey is an ancient jawless fish, native to the Atlantic Ocean and the streams feeding into it. They are not native to the Great Lakes and it is believed that they gained access to the Great Lakes when the Welland Canal allowed the lamprey to travel around a great natural barrier. In their parasitic phase, they have devastated native fish species and damaged fisheries in the Great Lakes. The sea lamprey is a nocturnal fish that relies on odors to find prey, avoid predators and navigate back to rivers to spawn.

More on this research is available by reading the article at PLOS ONE at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0197569.

  Seton Hall University