LongLine

Thanx Pete. Glad the offer was made to those guys to be rehired. We're keeping fingers crossed that all works out well.

Thanx Pete. I appreciate the info.

Bird flu? Haven't seen that many around the Genny either.

"Someone" brought up grinding them up and mixing them with feed at hatchery. My responses were geared towards that and not to what they eat out in the lake.

I don't know if fish will exhibit the symptoms and/or die from it. Birds found with it were waterfowl and their infection in Great lakes area was attributed to the Round Goby. As shown in previous posts, gamefish are also eating the gobies. Do gamefish filter the toxin out via their bodily functions thus fishermen can safely eat them? Gamefish don't seem to be able to filter out other pollutants, hence health and preparation advisories. I don't know that there's a feed shortage for the hatchery. I'd rather see some kind of "growth hormone" added to the feed. Do Bass get big because Gobies are nutritional or because they eat so many of them while defending their nests?

Thanx for the update.

That's why it's monitored more. They did that once and a bunch of fish got wiped out.

Fish to be stocked are fed a special diet that is heavily monitored. Fish are treated for diseases. I remember a few years ago, an article connecting gobies to botulism. Another stating that gobies often have a high heavy metal content due to eating mussels. Heavy metals will disrupt a fish's immune system.

Boze - Thank you for the two "Lamprey Control" contributions to this thread.

Thanx. Was something below the gum line hitting a root. A shot, scapple...all better. I'd like to know the source of those numbers. I'm just amazed at all the support for a convicted tax dodger. Hope you all have your batteries charged. Buffalo, Rochester, all the way up to Ogdensburg just got hit with a 25% electric surcharge.

So how many eggs did they get this year and from how many fish? Did they measure the fish (like they show in the SR tour video)? What were the numbers? It'd be so easy to avoid controversy by publishing the numbers. What were the egg sies?

Well, we almost made it 36 hrs without the political banter. I have a dental appointment for a toothache. I hope I just get a filling, and he doesn't pull all my teeth. Of course, he could correct his mistake with a full set of dentures. (At 100 times the cost!)

Absolutely. There are many factors beyond man's control BUT shouldn't those that can be controlled be controlled? Seems to me that there is a lot of empirical proof on Big-O. I'd like to see the statistical anova analysis that this biologist used to rule it out.

Glad we went back to discussing Lamprey control and no political BS. (for at least 24 hrs) Thanx Gator and great articles by dreamsteellie. Hard to paraphrase but I think a very key phrase is "When used appropriately." For those who want to sit back and watch what happens when funding is cut: https://bn.dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/lofishboatsurveysummary2024.pdf Two side notes/questions: (1) Have any of you guys caught steelheads with lamprey wounds on them? (2) Will Lampreys go after Atlantics Salmon? (They both are native to the Atlantic Ocean.)

Well, back to the Lampreys: On pg 23 of the 2021 lamprey control report, the Credit River treatment was deferred to 2022 due to the abundance of steelhead noticed in the river. All the CND treatments in 2021 were done in August. https://www.glfc.org/pubs/slcp/annual_reports/ANNUAL_REPORT_2021.pdf In 2022 the Credit River was treated much earlier in July. (Probably no steelhead in the river earlier that year) So the question is why the concern over steelhead? Initially, I thought maybe they didn't want steelhead eating the half dead poisoned Lamprey. The film said that Lake trout once ate juvenile Lamprey which maintained predator-prey balance until commercial fishing depleted the lake Trout numbers and maybe steelhead would do the same. (That thought was wrong.) Reviewing the film again and a little googling reveals the treatments are by highly trained technicians who first measure flows, pH, Oxygen content and measure/observe more of the water to be treated and not by a bunch of "yahoos." They pick sites according to where Lamprey breed and figure the chemical will disperse/dilute enough as it travels downstream, out to the lake, as to not be a threat to other species. They do calculations as to the amount of lampricide to use which is quite evident in all the annual reports that I've previously linked to. The goal of the lampricide program is to kill Lamprey to help restore the Lake Trout to the lakes. The film goes thru somewhat of a timeline for the testing and development of TFM. Development was before the alewife explosion and the introduction of Cohos. (Then Kings then Browns & steelheads.) Further googling "How does Lampricide kill Lampreys" is interesting: TFM is not a Hollywood poison where one foams at the mouth or goes into convulsions. (note in the film the tech wears a gas mask while mixing powder chemicals) One can refer to this article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8427354/ where I quote: "Exposure to TFM causes marked reductions in tissue glycogen and high energy phosphagens in lamprey and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by interfering with oxidative ATP production in the mitochondria." In other words, it attacks the tissues/substances on their gills/respiratory system, and they'll die. Literature mention that sturgeon and rainbows as well as the Lampreys are susceptible due to their gill "configuration." (Only 3 mentioned) Damage is minimized to other specie at treatment time due to concentrations and as only Lamprey plus others that can withstand polluted water are present in the stream. I'm all in favor of Lampricide treatments, not because I care all that much about LTs but because I've personally seen a lot of salmon with Lamprey wounds over the years. It's the Salmon that has made Sportfishing popular and been the most benefit to the Great lakes. I also appreciate the efforts of the scientists and technicians that do the treatments. We can't have a bunch of "yahoos" just throwing chemicals into the water and we can't defer Lamprey control.