1993 News Brief

• The commission released and distributed its award-winning video Great Lakes Invader: The Sea Lamprey Battle Continues.

Commissioners

Canadian Section:               U.S. Section:
F. William H. Beamish           C.D. (Buzz) Besadny, Vice-Chair
Gail Beggs                      James Cady
Cheryl Fraser                   Charles C. Krueger
Paul Sutherland, Chair          Harry H. Whiteley, alternate
                                Vacant

Sea Lamprey Management and Research

• The commission directed the refinement of an existing flow model in order to better predict dispersion of lampricides in the St. Marys River for the purpose of estimating the effectiveness of treatment options.
• Agents increased larval distribution survey efforts on the St. Marys River.
• Dr. Steve Bowen (Michigan Tech.) and Dr. Margaret Docker (DFO) received funds to determine how environmental effects in streams limit the production of sea lamprey transformers.
• The commission approved Dr. Stacia Sower's (U of N.H.) program to investigate the biological effects of lamprey gonadotropin-releasing hormones and analogs on reproductive processes and behavior in adult male sea lampreys, and to examine the possibilities of using these analogs for sterilizing lampreys.

Fishery Management, Environment, and Research

• The commission agreed to fund an environmental objectives workshop and the development of a white paper, as recommended by HAB.
• In response to requests from the lake committees, the commission agreed to represent fishery agency interests in protecting the Great Lakes from exotic species invasion via ballast water. To do so, the commission agreed to write letters to scientists, political and agency allies, and shippers thanking them for their role in preventing the release of exotic organisms, and to recommend the conversion to regulations of Canadian Great Lakes Ballast Water Management Guidelines.
• The commission provided HAB with copies of its proposed position statement on contaminants for review.
• The commission sent a letter to the Council of Great Lakes Governors supporting the Council of Lake Committees' position on implementation of a draft protocol for a uniform fish consumption advisory.

Publications

• Food of Salmonine Predators in Lake Superior, 1981-1987, by Conner, Bronte, Selgeby, and Collins. (TR 59)
• Great Lakes Fish Disease Control Policy and Model Program, edited by J.G. Hnath. (SP 93-1)
• Protocol to Minimize the Risk of Introducing Emergency Disease Agents with Importation of Salmonid Fishers from Enzootic Areas, edited by Horner and Eshenroder. (SP 93-1)
• Toward Integrating Remedial Action and Fishery Management Planning in Great Lakes Areas of Concern, by J.H. Hartig.
• A Survey of Fish-Community and Habitat Goal/Objectives/Targets and Status in Great Lakes Areas of Concern, by J.H. Hartig.

Committee Action, Resolutions, and Reports

Lake Committees

• The Council of Lake Committees supported the Lakes Erie and Superior environmental objectives workshop and agreed to participate. Council members expressed concern that there were no institutional arrangements for receiving and accomplishing objectives, that fishery objectives were being developed in isolation from other users, and that the engineering/biology gap must be bridged. The council supported the HAB recommendation to the GLFC that it encourage parties to re-define LaMPs to be a more comprehensive and to develop a strategic planning framework which would provide a neutral forum for the integration of fish and wildlife planning, coordination of Remedial Action Plans, control of critical pollutants, and other components of ecosystem management.
• The Lake Erie Committee, with respect to a common U.S. contaminant advisory, urged scientific review, urged research by EPA and Trust Fund on risk assessment assumptions, urged reconciliation with FDA standards and Canadian advisories, and urged delay until Health Canada research became available.
• The Lake Huron Committee resolved that lake trout not be stocked north of 45 until two years before effective sea lamprey control measures are scheduled for the St. Marys River. The committee requested that the commission develop a clear plan for sea lamprey control on the St. Marys River with objectives, option evaluation plans, time frame, decision points, and cost estimates.
• The Lake Michigan Committee reaffirmed its Racine, WI decision to stock Green Lake and Marquette strain lake trout in the southern refuge in 1994. Fall fingerlings would be stocked in secondary areas. The Lake Michigan Technical Committee continued its study and documentation of lake trout which spawn at depths of 100'-150'.
• The Lake Ontario Committee agreed to develop a tight protocol for use of the Sustainability of Intensively Managed Populations in Lake Ecosystems (SIMPLE) model in order to assure its integrity.
• The Lake Superior Committee supported the proposed workshop on environmental objectives. The committee authorized Binational Program incorporation into its state of the lake report of LSC document of the same name.

Board of Technical Experts

• Recommended the development of its biodiversity task during 1994, a year of serious fiscal constraint, because the commission was reluctant to initiate new research tasks during a year of budget shortfall. The board noted that the biodiversity task may not be implemented until 1995.

Great Lakes Fish Disease Control Committee

• Recommended that no lake trout egg collections from the upper lakes be made until a screening test was available for epizootic epitheliotropic disease virus. Despite promising news in 1991 about the development of a screening test, equipment breakdowns and other problems delayed the test.
• Completed its Protocol to Minimize the Risk of Introducing Emergency Disease Agents with Importation of Salmonid Fishes from Enzootic Areas. The protocol recommended advance consultation with other Great Lake agencies, stringent disease monitoring at source, and a minimum six month quarantine in the Great Lakes basin before stocking.

Habitat Advisory Board

• Redrafted its Position Statement on Toxic Contaminants and recommended that the commission endorse and publish the statement.
• Recommended that the commission continue to review Stage I RAPs and agree to review Stage II RAPs for the IJC.

Communications

• The commission distributed copies of its video Great Lakes Invader: The Sea Lamprey Battle Continues.

1993 Budget

The commission received the following funds from the United States and Canada (in U.S. dollars):

                                                United States           Canada          Total
Total                                           $8,944,000              $3,407,662      $12,351,662