Great Lakes Sea Lamprey: The 70 Year War on a Biological Invader

The stuff of nightmares in both their looks and the horrifying wounds inflicted on their victims, sea lampreys are perhaps the deadliest invasive species to ever enter the Great Lakes. At the invasion’s peak in the mid-20th century, annual catches of lake trout, the lampreys’ preferred host fish in the Great Lakes, plummeted from 6.5 million pounds to a mere 11,000 pounds. Threatening the complete collapse of the fishery, the sea lamprey invasion triggered an environmental awakening across the region, prompting an international treaty that dissolved political boundaries in a cooperative effort to protect and rehabilitate the Great Lakes. The resulting war on Great Lakes sea lampreys fostered a pioneering scientific spirit leading to discoveries that are the backbone of a program that eventually brought the creature under control and now protects the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world. Great Lakes Sea Lamprey draws on extensive interviews with individuals who experienced the invasion firsthand as well as a trove of unexplored archival materials to tell the incredible story of sea lamprey in the Great Lakes. Richly illustrated with color and black & white photographs, the book will interest readers concerned with the health of the Great Lakes and the ongoing threat of invasive species.