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Catherine Creek lamprey barrier


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This week DEC fisheries personel installed a device on the northern most pool digger in Catherine Creek to deny lampreys access to their upstream spawning grounds.

As you know, lampreys are very weak swimmers and have trouble negotiating waterfalls (they can't jump like trout and salmon do). Instead, lampreys attach themselves to the face of the waterfall and suck their way, inch by inch, over the obstacle. The devices installed on the pool digger are perforated so that lampreys can't maintain suction and inch their way over.

The device itself was fabricated locally and paid for by DEC. Supplemental funding to pay for the necessary fasteners was supplied by the Finger Lakes Trollers Association.

Most of the device is behind the waterfall and not visible in the picture.

wrbu9.jpg

wrdZi.jpg

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Every little bit helps when the spawners run ,and i dont know how many if any attached to the 100's of trout ive seen in the past attached to trout jumping over stafford road dam would have the possability of spawning..

but the cost and effort to install this has to be well worth it....Thanks for the info.

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Ray, the lampreys you see on the jumping rainbows probably aren't adults. I believe you are talking about lamprey that are 6 inches to 10 inches long (at least these are the size that I've encountered). These size lampreys won't spawn until the following year.

Spawning adult lampreys quit feeding before their spawning runs from the lake, so they would be extremely unlikely to hitch a ride upstream on a another fish.

For what it is worth, I have been told by the fisheries biologist that they do not find lampreys above the dam at Stafford Road during their stream surveys.

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  • 11 years later...
On 10/16/2010 at 10:49 PM, Second Chance 22 said:

This week DEC fisheries personel installed a device on the northern most pool digger in Catherine Creek to deny lampreys access to their upstream spawning grounds.

As you know, lampreys are very weak swimmers and have trouble negotiating waterfalls (they can't jump like trout and salmon do). Instead, lampreys attach themselves to the face of the waterfall and suck their way, inch by inch, over the obstacle. The devices installed on the pool digger are perforated so that lampreys can't maintain suction and inch their way over.

The device itself was fabricated locally and paid for by DEC. Supplemental funding to pay for the necessary fasteners was supplied by the Finger Lakes Trollers Association.

Most of the device is behind the waterfall and not visible in the picture.

wrbu9.jpg

wrdZi.jpg

 

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16 minutes ago, Hop said:

Thank you big foot. Is there a place to donate to the trolling association for the help towards the lamprey barrier fund. Thanks. Hop.

Hop. this was 11years ago. There was no special fund. We saw an opportunity to helpthe fishery and spent about $450 for the stainless fasteners. I'm not a member these days as I am retired to Florida. As I recall, the next Spring there was high water and the lampreys just swam around the barrier.

 

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1 hour ago, Trouthunter said:

Question since Seneca & Cayuga are connected by the canal is that why they cannot rid the lakes of them can only control them to a point

The main problem is potential flooding and the possibility of some limited use of minor streams on both sides of the lake when water levels are unusually high for sustained periods (not frequent but possible). Most of them either dry up or have small amounts of poorly oxygenated water with high temps which discourages fish development as well as providing an unsuitable environment for nearly anything.   Recently they found little to no activity in the smaller streams and it is mainly Catherines and Keuka Outlet  at Dresden where most breeding occurs and the deltas out into the lake at both sites. The Seneca River is somewhat of an unknown in terms of the travel patterns of both fish and invasives as far as how much occurs and whether they actually make it to either Cayuga or Seneca lakes. I know for a fact that browns use the canal bt whether they make it to Cayuga lake I do not know. The major lamprey breeding grounds are the two streams on Seneca mentioned.

Edited by Sk8man
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The adults only live for about a couple years so the best way is to kill off the ammocoetes before they develop into juveniles far more effective than going after the spawning adults but there is a "lag" period before seeing the results

Edited by Sk8man
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Trapping adult lampreys can be quite effective if you get them all. It can be costly as it is labor intensive and the captured eels are landfilled. However, since a female lamprey can lay 30,000 to 100,000 eggs, if a few pair escape/bypass the traps, the entire effort is pretty much a waste of time/money.

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this lamprey problem is here to stay. come back 100 yrs from now. we will still have the problem. Man created this problem back in 1820 when we built the barge canal. when we built the welland canal we connected the whole great lakes system together. what's next. the asian carp. 

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