Lake Champlain is one of the greatest fisheries in north america for years now. It has been fighting a lamprey eel problem for sometime. Below is a link to a petition to keep the use of lampricide going. Please read the petition and sign it if you agree. Thank you.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Lewis...ition.html

I'm number 412.

Doesn't seem like sea lamprey serves a helpful purpose in the lake.

Frank would you still put your name on that if you lived along that stream ????

There are other ways to control them and some of the "lampricide " being used maybe the reason the rainbow smelt are nearly gone in Seneca. I'm just saying ......................hope they are making the right choice.

They have been using the lampicide for many years on the rivers and tributaries of Lake Champlain and we still have smelt in the lake. I have been fishing the waters of Lake Champlain most my life and I have seen the decline of the fisheries due to the lamprey eel. I have caught lake trout, salmon, walleye and other fish that are near death due to the lamprey sucking the life blood out of them. Many times the eel are still attached. The Walleye fisheries have been almost completly deystroyed since the 70s and much of that is due to the lamprey. I vote for the lampricide use. If NY state & Vermont would both work on the problem together instead of fighting each other, they would have possibly eradicated the lamprey eel population by now. Everytime they start getting control of things... one state or the other stops spending the $ to complete the lampricide and the problem increases again. Lake Champlain is not a pond or small lake and the invasives must be controlled. All us fishermen can do our part by following good fishing practices such as cleaning our trailers and being super careful not to allow invasives to be released from our boats or livewells.

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Rabbit I vote for using lampricide and I do live in the area and fish Lake Champlain as one of my two home lakes. We have only seen positive results of its use in the past or more positive than negative results.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6998.html

What is happening and has happen on (Quote you) "this pond or small lake" now may be what you will see later.  Or showing up some now ?????

http://www.denpubs.com/Articles-c-2..._gone.html

" The use of TFM, which is intended to control larval lamprey, is likely to kill amphibians wherever it is used in Lake Erie tributaries. Deformity rates in mudpuppies at Long Point and in the Detroit River are elevated well above the background rates reported for inland areas of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin."

from:

http://www.fluoridealert.org/pestic...tracts.htm

as before I'm just saying..............it's just that the DEC said as like you "They have been using the lampicide for many years on the rivers and tributaries of Lake Champlain and we still have smelt in the lake." in a way that it can't hurt ya but then why post and report about not drinking the water or eating the fish if it can't hurt ya.

Don't read what I said the WRONG way I'm all for lamprey control but the less TFM lampicide used the better.

Oh and any time you want to bring your "ultimate fishing machine" over to this "pond"(Seneca Lake) and show us what ya got I'll have my lil'-tin-lizy ready to try and stay with ya............  

Well again I still have to vote TFM lampricide because we need to save the fisheries on Lake Champlain. As far as them telling us not to drink the water when they treat it... the state or any goverment agency is going to tell you that just so the can do a CYA and protect themselves from lawsuits. Have you ever read most of the MSD sheets that now come with any chemical of any kind. Your not supposed to drink your bath water either.

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Yes I rather they use minium chemicals in any of our waterways. I want to protect all our waters and all wildlife. The TFM may have some ill effect on some aquatic life; but, if the lamprey get out of control, it won't matter anymore. If we lose all our Lake Trout, Salmon, Walleye and other fish species in Lake Champlain due to the lamprey eels, then it won't matter. We won't need smelt or other aquatic life to support the lake and our fish to feed on.

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As far as the smelt population goes on Lake George, Lake Champlain and other lakes in the Adirondacks... the biologist can't figure out the cause of decline in some areas. They think the smelt is like other things... they run in cycles of good reproduction and poor cycles. They are also looking into things like where the smelt run and reasons such as they can no longer get up some streams or brooks to reproduce due to human beings causing problems such as barriers in the streams.

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Erabbit I am not arguing the point here of using TFM with you. I think you and I are both on the same track and are concerned fishermen. We both want the best to help the lakes and fisheries. This is a subject that deserves some debate and scientific investigation.

I am number 432!

Signing this petition takes a whole lot more thought and research than I realized....Every time I caught a fish with lamprey marks or there was one hanging on the fish, it kind a made me angry...And I guess I signed more out of emotion than being informed.  Thanks Ed for your research...wow!

# 437

Erabbit: Glad you got some benefit out of the zebras. Lk Mich is also seeing some good come out of them. The water off the Il. shore is now clear enough to allow weeds to grow and as a result we now have smallmouth and pike in the area. Some walleye have also been caught but don't tell the IDNR, they say Lk Mich won't support walleye this far south! Tom