Lamprey Control under the Trump administration

[Yankee Troller]

Sea Grant sent this out this morning to a friend in Jefferson county.

 

I wanted to share a couple links about things going on that might have an impact on our fishery, so you could perhaps share with the Jefferson County Fishery Advisory Board. If you'd like more info, let me know, and I'd be glad to set up a time to discuss.

 

The USGS office in Oswego that runs the preyfish/alewife surveys (and many other things) is currently on a list of federal buildings that might be closed. They lease the space (offices, labs, and a dock for the large research vessel) from the Port Authority (address is 17 Lake St Oswego, as seen on this list: https://democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/GSA_Lease_Terminations.pdf).

 

They provide an immense amount of scientific support that NY and Ontario use to manage the Lake. 

 

14 federal workers associated with the Sea Lamprey control program have been fired, which may impact the control efforts in NY (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/sea-lamprey-program-cuts-1.7468338)

 

Sea Grant is hoping we continue to receive federal funding, but there is concern that the second Trump administration may propose the total elimination of federal funding for Sea Grant. 

 

I will keep you posted. 

 

Our colleagues in Maine recently had their support pulled. https://www.pressherald.com/2025/03/04/king-and-pingree-urge-trump-administration-to-reinstate-maine-sea-grant-funding/

 

Great Lakes Fisheries & Ecosystem Health Specialist

New York Sea Grant (NYSG)

SUNY Oswego

[email protected] | Office: 315.234.1329 

 

Social Media, Resources, and Events: NYSG Great Lakes

 

>>>>>>>> End of NY Sea Grant message <<<<<<<<<

 

If you believe we should continue receiving federal funding for these kinds of programs, that manage our waterways and fisheries for future generations, I encourage you to contact your congressional representatives and let them know.

Edited March 6 by Yankee Troller

[HB2]

37 trillion in debt 

 

These are the things that will be targets for cuts , unfortunately. 

 

Expect more until things get under control 

[lachsforelle]

This has nothing to do with addressing the national debt.  If it did, these moves wouldn't be coupled with tax breaks for people who clearly don't need them. 

This is a dismantling of what our 'government' was, in order for it to be remade into something that suits the ultra rich and powerful.   

 

Their goal is to create chaos and then spin themselves as the saviors by addressing the problems they created.  Who's them?  Trump and his inner circle of lackeys.  DOGE is a false flag operation on a national scale...and his MAGA crowd is falling for it.

 

 

 

[HB2]

We spent like drunken sailors for years as a country and state . It's time to pay 

 

I keep asking and have gotten no answer yet , where is the money coming from to pay down this debt . 

 

Shrinking Gov is a good thing 

[HB2]

Oh yeah ,37 trillion in debt 

 

Everyone is to blame 

[lachsforelle]

10 minutes ago, HB2 said:

We spent like drunken sailors for years as a country and state . It's time to pay 

 

I keep asking and have gotten no answer yet , where is the money coming from to pay down this debt . 

 

Shrinking Gov is a good thing 

If addressing the debt is the whole point of their actions, then what's your rationale for the proposed $1.24 trillion dollar in tax cuts (over the next decade) for the top 1% of earners?

Cutting expenses while intentionally cutting revenue is a mixed message, if addressing the debt is what these shysters are trying to do....

[GAMBLER]

Can we stop the political banter and unify to keep these programs.  Put politics aside and write your congressmen and women.  

[rolmops]

9 minutes ago, GAMBLER said:

Can we stop the political banter and unify to keep these programs.  Put politics aside and write your congressmen and women.  

If we don't, the sea lamprey will be great again!  Please remind your congress man or woman that they have to reapply for their job less than 2 years from now, and we can accept or deny their application

[rolmops]

4 hours ago, HB2 said:

We spent like drunken sailors for years as a country and state . It's time to pay 

 

I keep asking and have gotten no answer yet , where is the money coming from to pay down this debt . 

 

Shrinking Gov is a good thing 

I can show you a little bit of where the money is coming from. Usually these loans are bonds that people buy. While these bonds mature, there is inflation. The bond is sold at lets say ten dollars in the year 2000. When the bond is due in 2010 the $10 bond is paid back in 2010 dollars. But $10 of the year 2010 are only worth 60% of what these 2000 dollars are worth. So just because of inflation 40% percent is paid back already.

The buying power of one dollar in 1950 is the same as $15.20  in 2025

Edited March 5 by rolmops

[fisherdude]

Funding was pulled from the state of Maine due the  meeting with the governors and Trump, When Trump had words with Gov. Mills,she said wouldn't follow the executive order , XY chromosome competing in sports with an XX chromosome  Executive order. New York being a sanctuary state will probably go through the same thing.. got a feeling those lampreys are going to be a problem. 

[HB2]

All I seem to hear are excuses and reasons and not taking responsibility for any of the 37 trillion in debt . 

 

But here we are . 

 

Going to hurt for a while gentlemen , and personally I'm good with it if we are in a better place down the road . 

 

A few more lampreys aren't the biggest thing in the world in the grand scheme of things 

[spoonfed-1]

2 hours ago, GAMBLER said:

Can we stop the political banter and unify to keep these programs.  Put politics aside and write your congressmen and women.  

Or at least wait and see if the doom and gloom actually takes place.

[fisherman777]

23 minutes ago, HB2 said:

All I seem to hear are excuses and reasons and not taking responsibility for any of the 37 trillion in debt . 

 

But here we are . 

 

Going to hurt for a while gentlemen , and personally I'm good with it if we are in a better place down the road . 

 

A few more lampreys aren't the biggest thing in the world in the grand scheme of things 

Why are you even on a website that is about fishing lake ontario then, if you're cool with the whole thing going away? Without lampricide treatments and the baitfish assessment that USGS in Oswego does yearly, that's what you'll potentially be looking at. 

[HB2]

I can say I fish LO more than the vast majority of the people on this site so I can say  without hesitation it means a lot to me . 

 

I have also said many times in the past that what goes on in the state and nation will affect our fishing . And now we see it could . 

 

If spending doesn't get under control , there may be no money for any of it in the future . Before it all goes away. Because it all comes down to funds and how they are allocated . 

 

Im just looking at the big picture and getting my priorities straight . 

 

 

 

 

[fisherman777]

20 minutes ago, HB2 said:

I can say I fish LO more than the vast majority of the people on this site so I can say  without hesitation it means a lot to me . 

 

I have also said many times in the past that what goes on in the state and nation will affect our fishing . And now we see it could . 

 

If spending doesn't get under control , there may be no money for any of it in the future . Before it all goes away. Because it all comes down to funds and how they are allocated . 

 

Im just looking at the big picture and getting my priorities straight . 

 

 

 

 

Lamprey treatments and baitfish monitoring have been going on in the Great Lakes for decades, long before the national debt skyrocketed. Cutting these programs won't do much to balance 37 trillion worth of debt, but it will do a whole lot to ruin your fishing, and the local economies around the lake that depend on it.

[spoonfed-1]

Any federal funding thats withheld from NY state will be because your Governor declared the state as a sanctuary state. Illegals before citizens. Perhaps contact your governor about that but don't jump to conclusions as far as the fishery goes.

[LongLine]

A single sea lamprey can lay 100,000 eggs:

Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Potential of not treating our streams is not a lesson I want to learn the hard way.  Just like some kids play with fire even though their parents told them not to.  I guess kids just have to learn...oh well.  What's a bunch of 3rd degree burns?  oh well.  The kid doesn't have to pay the hospital bills...oh well.

 

Kind of hard to pay down debt when you reduce income. 6 figure-plus salaries for 19 yr olds...oh well. Million-dollar photo-ops at super bowl and nascar...oh well.  

 

 

[Mr.Esox]

Ridiculous, just the tip of the iceberg  folks save your money. Will all become isolated and the Oligarchs will run it all !!!

[Gill-T]

As egregious as NYS spending 3.4 Billion dollars on asylum seeker support in 2024, that amounts to $170 per year per NY resident. Nowhere near the over $100,000 per person we are in over our heads with the national debt. The problem is much bigger than illegals in NY.  Many of the projects getting slashed help generate money and jobs. Alewife surveys drive stocking recommendations that drive fishing quality that drives revenue around Lake Ontario. Cutting needs to be stepwise and well thought out. Instead, we have a drugged-out blindfolded kid in office swinging wildly at a Piñata. What we are doing to Ukraine is disgraceful. Reagan is rolling over in his grave. 

[spoonfed-1]

27 minutes ago, LongLine said:

A single sea lamprey can lay 100,000 eggs:

Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Potential of not treating our streams is not a lesson I want to learn the hard way.  Just like some kids play with fire even though their parents told them not to.  I guess kids just have to learn...oh well.  What's a bunch of 3rd degree burns?  oh well.  The kid doesn't have to pay the hospital bills...oh well.

 

Kind of hard to pay down debt when you reduce income. 6 figure-plus salaries for 19 yr olds...oh well. Million-dollar photo-ops at super bowl and nascar...oh well.  

 

 

Then you should be aware of what happened to the lamprey program during covid.

[HB2]

A lot of drops have made an ocean 

 

Debt will be almost 4 % of GDP and the interest rate is projected to soar. 

Now I don't know what that means but it is a butt load  of money . 

And if something happens , like a natural disaster 20 times worse than

LA or,   I don't know we , get sucked into a war with a super power  , I would like to have the money as a nation  to fund it and not have to go begging ( like we just witnessed ) to fund it . 

 

Our Gov need to do more with less and be more efficient . 

 

I saw 4 DEC people at the Lamprey booth ( which was impressive )at the Niagara show . Not one could answer my question as to which stream were getting treated this year  and directed me to a website . That's a problem as I see it . 

[Hot Soup]

Please do not read online posts, and turn to fear as some want you to do, and this "email to a friend" was designed to do... 

The key giveaway sign is the non-working link goes to "Democrats-naturalresourse.house"... Not playing either political side - we are all FISHERMEN here !

If 14 jobs got eliminated because 14 people worked in Boise Idaho, and were found to just be collecting a paycheck - good riddens...

If $1.2b was granted to Sea Lamprey Control, and only $1.2m was applied to direct resources - then let them cut...

Maybe just maybe - this will pull focus from the SEA, and concentrate on our Great Lakes & Tributaries where Lampreys are truly invasive & where the funding belongs !

Just IMO.... 

 

 

 

[LongLine]

16 hours ago, spoonfed-1 said:

but don't jump to conclusions as far as the fishery goes.

There was no lampricide treatments on US side of Lake-O in 2020 but there was on the Canadian side. Canada has many more tribs and feeder creeks than US has. CA has over 350 whereas US has a little over 200. (Oswego River has at least 8) US treatment is mostly a federal program that extends over all the Great Lakes. 

 

An A1 Lamprey mark is defined as a Lake trout mark that has "no healing; fresh mark; with a definite opening through the skin into muscle."  They don't count lesser wounds. 

 

According to this GLFC publication for Lake-O:

https://www.glfc.org/pubs/pdfs/4.1.3 SL Status_Ontario (Mar 2023).pdf

 

The average adult Lamprey Abundance index for 2020-2023 was 9,600.  For 2023 it was 19,000. 

 

Back in '85, A1 marks count was 4.0 per 100 LT.  For 2020, it was 0.5.  In 2023 it was 3.0.  It took 25 years to go from 4.0 down to 0.5.

 

Marks on Browns and Salmon are not counted.  (I've caught Kings in the last few years, as have many other guys, that have some kind of mark on them.)

 

According to the GLFC documentary "The Fish Thief: a Great Lakes Mystery", The Sea Lamprey thrives & reproduces better in cleaner streams.  And they say that is why destruction in Huron & Michigan was initially more severe than in Erie. Note that Lake-O and tribs have been getting cleaner and cleaner every year.  

 

It amazes me that some want to sit back and watch while a few fight for a resource for the watchers to enjoy.

 

[spoonfed-1]

Sounds intelligent but I call BS. I was very involved in the fishery. invested and very concerned and if memory serves the USA did zero lamprey control for 2 years. 2020/2021 and very little in 2022 because of covid restrictions. Don't know what Canada did but I do know they were just as shut down as the US was during that 2 year period.

Edited March 6 by spoonfed-1

[dreamsteelie]

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is working diligently to contest this and make the Administration aware of the importance of the program and what can be lost.  I am involved as a sport fishing advisor to the State of PA and am being informed of the progress.  I know it is underway.   Support letter writing was requested and has begun, I copied Joe Yaeger from LOTSA on some things.   It may help if individuals or groups contact their representatives and senators ASAP on this matter and ask the Administration to come up with the proper funding to continue the treatments.  The majority of the cuts involved the field staff that applies the treatments (this is what I was told).  There is discussion of calling on use of local volunteers to help (if needed). To help with the grunt work.  

 

I cannot dispute CUTS were needed in many things.  However, I am sure that is the tree is shook hard, our Administration will go back and look at this again.  I remain hopeful.  Shake some trees. Voicing our opinion on a thread is one thing, making the time to contact your politicians, write letters, seek a meeting will take it to the next level.  A common man once said. "doing nothing gets one nothing"

 

EXCELLENT watch here: Amazon or Apple TV 

 

This is the history of the Lamprey Eel, salmon and how the treatments came to fruition. 

 

 www.thefishthief.com

 

Captain Pete 

Vision Quest Sport Fishing