Great Lakes Fishery Commission

Sea lampreys, eel-like parasites that prey on fish, are native to the Atlantic Ocean but gained entry to the Great Lakes through the Erie Canal in the late 19th century. In response to concerns about decimated fish stocks, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission was created in 1955 to check the sea lamprey population. This report discusses (1) whether the Commission, a joint U.S.-Canadian venture, uses an ecosystem management approach that considers the potential harmful effects of sea lamprey control efforts; (2) what progress the Commission has made in adopting nonchemical methods to control the sea lamprey; and (3) if the Commission could effectively spend more funding on research for alternative control methods.

GAO found that the Commission: (1) endorses an ecosystem management approach that considers the potential impact of its control methods and seeks input from fishery experts regarding its activities; (2) has set a goal of reducing its use of lampricides to 50 percent of 1991 levels by 2000; (3) for fiscal year (FY) 1992, requested a $1.9-million increase over its FY 1991 budget, but some Canadian fishery officials believe that the Commission has not adequately justified its request for lampricide stream treatments; (4) is developing a formal protocol for gathering and analyzing data on sea lamprey populations to address such concerns; (5) has allocated few resources to developing alternative control methods, citing limited research funding levels, lack of time, and the success of its chemical control program; (6) has employed barrier dams and the release of sterilized male sea lamprey as alternative control methods; (7) included in its FY 1992 budget request $1.5 million for those two alternative control techniques and $2.5 million for alternative control research, but neither the U.S. nor Canadian governments fully met the budget request; (8) has not developed a detailed strategic plan for its alternative control research; (9) uses informal monitoring procedures to manage its small research program, but those would be inadequate for a larger research program; and (10) has not begun to plan for the tests and studies necessary to reregister the lampricides, and has made only limited attempts to locate additional suppliers and ensure the long-term availability of the chemicals.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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