Sea Lampreys Brought to Capitol as Lawmakers Consider Funding for Invasive Species Control

Half a dozen sea lampreys were brought to the US Capitol for a June meet-and-greet with policymakers from Florida to California, CNN reported. ” The Great Lakes Fishery Commission organized the event to underscore the need for continued US and Canadian funding to control the invasive species. ” Sea lampreys entered Lake Ontario in the mid-1800s and reached the upper Great Lakes in the 1920s.

Each consumes about 40 pounds of fish over 12 to 18 months, and a single female can produce 100,000 eggs. Uncontrolled populations could collapse Great Lakes fish stocks within five years, according to the commission. The commission was created by a 1954 US-Canada treaty.

A chemical treatment developed in 1957 kills lamprey larvae without harming native fish. Roughly 9 million lampreys must be killed annually to prevent population growth. COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021 reduced treatments, allowing the population to rise 300 percent in some areas.

The commission later restored numbers to pre-pandemic levels by December 2025, though Lake Superior remained elevated. The economic impact of the temporary surge reached an estimated $2 billion, the commission said. The commission is building FishPass, a channel beside the Union Street Dam in Traverse City on the Boardman River, to test automated barriers that block lampreys while allowing other fish to pass.

Lawmakers are also considering the bipartisan Save Great Lakes Fish Act of 2025, which would provide $500 million over 10 years to develop controls for invasive mussels. On June 3 the US-Canadian Committee of Advisors to the GLFC unanimously endorsed the legislation and urged Congress to pass it.