An eel-like parasite that devastated the lake trout
population of the Great Lakes may one day swim in Yellowstone Lake.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it may consider introducing
sterile sea lampreys to control invasive lake trout discovered
there last summer (HCN, 9/19/94). “At at this point we’re not
ruling out any proposals,” agency biologist Lynn Kaeding told the
Associated Press. Unless they’re eliminated, lake trout could
gobble up native Yellowstone cutthroat, thereby wiping out an
important food for grizzly bears, eagles and otters. Biologists say
lampreys would target the lake trout for their large size and
because both those fish prefer much greater depths than the
cutthroat. Federal officials are also considering attaching radio
transmitters to some lake trout, then poisoning or netting them in
their spawning beds. Even the Department of Defense has a proposal:
Wire the bottom of the lake with a grid and electrocute the
intruders.
* Anders
Halverson
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline It takes a thief.
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