This bilateral agreement affirms the need for the two governments to collaborate on the protection and the perpetuation of the Great Lakes' fisheries resources. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission, created some four decades ago, effectively meets today's ecosystem management needs consistent with the modern emphasis on less government, more partnerships, and delivery of effective, focused programs. The commission's most visible contribution to the well-being of the Great Lakes fisheries is control of the sea lamprey. To deliver lamprey control and to conduct the necessary research, the commission has entered into a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Biological Service, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and other agencies. Through a process known as Integrated Management of Sea Lamprey, these agencies, along with the active participation of provincial, state and tribal governments, collectively formulate the lamprey control program.
Sea lampreys are primitive eel-like fish native to the Atlantic Ocean.
Sea lampreys entered the Great Lakes system in the 1800s through the manmade Erie and Welland canals, and they established large populations in all of the Great Lakes by the 1930s. In its lifetime, each sea lamprey, by attaching to fish and feeding on their body fluids, can kill 40 or more pounds of fish. Lampreys are so destructive that in some conditions, only one out of seven fish attacked by a lamprey will survive the attack. By the 1950s, lamprey predation, in combination with other factors, greatly reduced the numbers of lake trout, whitefish and other desirable species in the Great Lakes. The once thriving fisheries were devastated.