Escapement of spawning phase sea lampreys into the upper Cheboygan River

CHBSL

January 2011 - December 2011

The Cheboygan River is an important sea lamprey producing tributary to Lake Huron. It has a barrier-integrated trap near its mouth that captures more adult sea lampreys than any other Great Lakes trap. Despite having a significant dam and efficient trap, the upper river remains infested with sea lampreys and must be treated with lampricides every three years. Spawning migrations are presumed to circumvent the barrier by a vessel passageway (lock), though lampreys may also move through an adjacent power generation facility. It is not known what proportion of adult lampreys in the lower Cheboygan River access the upper River and how the escapement of sea lampreys upstream of the dam influences adult lamprey abundance estimates on the Cheboygan River. Lake-wide adult lamprey abundance estimates are highly sensitive to mark-recapture population estimates conducted on large rivers, such as the Cheboygan River, because a small proportion of large rivers are trapped within each Great Lake. We hypothesize that a measurable proportion (> 5%) of sea lampreys move upstream of the Cheboygan River dam given consistent yearly recruitment of larval sea lampreys in the upper Cheboygan River. Furthermore, we hypothesize that escapement of sea lampreys above the Cheboygan River dam results in an underestimate of adult lampreys in the Cheboygan River because marked lampreys are released at the trap site, which is upstream of the lock. Our goal is to independently estimate adult lamprey abundance in the lower Cheboygan River (below the dam) and in the upper Cheboygan River using acoustic telemetry and compare acoustic telemetry derived estimates to those derived using traditional mark-recapture techniques.

• Determine sea lamprey movement pathways around the Cheboygan River Dam with specific focus on location and timing of passage, and relation to operation of the lock and power generation facility. Determine if escapement of adult sea lampreys upstream of t
• Determine if escapement of adult sea lampreys upstream of the Cheboygan River dam results in an underestimate of adult abundance.

• Understanding how lampreys move between the lower and upper river will facilitate more accurate population estimates and development of possible alternative control strategies, such as sterile-male release, pheromones, and repellents, which may eliminate the upper river as a nursery for larval sea lampreys.

• Nicholas Johnson (United States Geological Survey) - njohnson@usgs.gov
• Christopher Holbrook (United States Geological Survey - Hammond Bay Biological Station)
• Michael Twohey (United States Fish And Wildlife Service)

• United States Fish and Wildlife Service
• United States Geological Survey

• Great Lakes Fishery Commission

• Holbrook, C.M., Johnson, N.S., Steibel, J.P., Twohey, M.B., Binder, T.R., Krueger, C.C., and M.L. Jones. 2014. Estimating reach-specific fish movement probabilities in rivers with a Bayesian state-space model: application to sea lamprey passage and capture at dams. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71: 1713–1729.

http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfas-2013-0581