Lake Champlain cooperative to treat New York’s Boquet River to control sea lamprey

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will apply lampricide to portions of the Boquet River in New York. 

This marks the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative’s 36th season of sea lamprey control following over 107 successful treatments since they began in 1990. Treatment is scheduled to begin on Nov. 4, yet remains contingent upon weather, which may result in delays with short notice.

Public awareness

Temporary water-use advisories will be in effect for the treatment to minimize human exposure to affected waters. Advisories typically range between two and eight days, depending on the local conditions at the time of treatment.

The Department of Health recommends that the treated river and lake water not be used for drinking, swimming, fishing, irrigation, or livestock watering while advisories are in effect. Cooperative staff have identified and contacted all landowners with property in the affected areas.

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Lampricide treatments and water-use advisories will have no effect on most residents in the Lake Champlain Basin.

The public can obtain up-to-date information on the treatment schedule, progress reports, water-use advisories, and general program information online at FWS.GOV/Champlainlamprey or by calling our toll-free number at 888-596-0611.

Lampricide treatment details

Larval sea lamprey live submerged in the sediment of rivers and deltas for about four years before transforming to their parasitic phase and emigrating to Lake Champlain where they take a significant toll on the fishery.

A single sea lamprey can kill the equivalent of 40 pounds of fish in a year. One of the Cooperative’s Integrated Pest Management approaches is to apply selective pesticides (lampricides) to rivers and deltas in prescribed and precise concentrations. Lampricide concentrations are calculated and monitored to effectively eliminate sea lamprey larvae while minimizing effects on non-target species.

Lampricides are applied to rivers in carefully metered concentrations for 12-14 hours depending on environmental conditions.

Public benefit

The 2024 annual land-locked Atlantic salmon and lake trout wounding assessment found an average of 39 sea lamprey wounds per 100 lake trout (management goal < 25), and 11 per 100 Atlantic salmon (management goal <15).

While the lake trout wounding rate rebounded back above our management objective, it remains well below historic highs. These reductions highlight the ability of the control program to substantially reduce the sea lamprey population and their effects on host species’ populations.

As a result of the Cooperative’s program of fisheries restoration, which includes sea lamprey control, new Lake Champlain angling records have been set recently for lake trout (19.36 lbs. in 2020) and land-locked Atlantic salmon (14.40 lb. in 2022).

Lake trout populations have also responded favorably where surveys continue to indicate natural reproduction is increasing, leading to the cessation of lake trout stocking.

Trout and salmon populations of Lake Champlain are the primary beneficiaries of sea lamprey control, but lake sturgeon, walleye, and many other species also benefit. Sea lamprey control also supports the local economy by increasing angling opportunities and the time that boaters, anglers, and their families spend in the Lake Champlain area.