In the past couple of weeks, the sea lamprey control program in Lake Champlain has gone from high expectations to an all-time low as Vermont has wavered in its commitment to the program. In the process, New York has been on the verge of giving up on the program completely. Then unexpectedly, two days ago, there was renewed hope that the lamprey control program would go forth as planned. If all this sounds confusing, let me try to clear things up.
The focal point of all this controversy has been the Poultney River in Vermont. It was scheduled to be treated with lampricide this fall, and with good reason. The Poultney is home to 171,000 lampreys, according to Vermont estimates, way more that any other Lake Champlain tributary.
The Poultney was supposed to receive a 1.3 MLD dose of lampricide, a percentage considered marginal at best, but still acceptable (New York uses 1.5 in its rivers with no negative effects).
When everything seemed in place, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), which controls the Fish & Wildlife Service and Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, changed the lampricide dosage level to 1.1, considered ineffective at best.
The bureaucrats responsible for this change -- George Crombie, ANR secretary, and Peter Laflamme, Director of Vermont DEC water quality division -- are new to the job, and, as one pro-lamprey control source in the know told me, "They tried to get it right, even if they got it wrong." The response to the change was immediate and negative. The Vermont Traditions Coalition, which includes the Lake Champlain Walleye Association and Hunter, Angler, Trapper of Vermont (HAT), was outraged.
Sherb Lang of HAT wrote, "It has become apparent in the last several years that the permitting process for the treatment of lampreys is a failure. It is a failure because someone does not wish to recognize the value of good fishing in Lake Champlain."
Even more important was the response from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. New York alone has spent millions on lamprey control; if Vermont wasn't serious about the program, New York was ready to pull out not only from the Poultney watered-down treatment, but all of Lake Champlain as well.
Last Monday, in a meeting in Albany with representatives from Vermont, New York and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New York and U.S.F&W presented hard evidence to show Vermont the 1.3 dose was safe, evidence that did not rely on hearsay and anecdotal information as given in a public hearing prior to the dosage change by Vermont ANR.
As of Friday, ANR may reconsider and possibly elevate the lamprey control dosage to 1.3 MCD, the only acceptable level for real lamprey control. I hope common sense and reliance on the data will win out, and the Poultney will be treated like the rest of Lake Champlain's tributaries. The future of our salmon and lake trout is at stake.
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