Sea Lampreys and the Expanded Great Lakes 

 Fishery Investigations 

 1948-1956 



Fiscal year 1948 saw the first Federal 

 appropriation for the study of the sea lamprey, 

 the predator that had reached the upper Great 

 Lakes in the 1930's and by the late 1940's had 

 eliminated the lake trout fishery in Lake Huron 

 and had inflicted grievous injury in Lake Mich- 

 igan. Both the Great Lakes staff and members 

 of the industry had been aware of the threat for 

 a number of years, but the emergency had not 

 been sufficiently great to attract support for 

 research on the problem. Most of the 1948 

 appropriation was consumed in the construction 

 of the experimental weir in the Ocqueoc River 

 and the 1949 allotment amounted to barely $5,000. 

 Consequently, it was not possible in either year 

 to carry out more than perfunctory research on 

 the lamprey- -appraisals of damage to the fish- 

 ing industry, short-term surveys of streams to 

 locate spawning runs Serious experimenta- 

 tion on control methods was out of the question. 

 Alfred Perlmutter, who had been transferred 

 from North Atlantic Fishery Investigations in 

 1948 to head the sea lamprey studies, resigned 

 in 1949. 



The substantial allotment for fiscal year 

 1950 (which, because of delays of appropriation, 

 did not become available until November 1949) 

 made it possible for the first time to organize a 

 comprehensive research program based entirely 

 on Service funds. In consideration of the bur- 

 den that the establishment and administration 

 of a greatly expanded program would impose, 

 Van Oosten was relieved of administrative duties 

 to give full time to the completion of his numer- 

 ous researches in progress and James W. Moff- 

 ett was transferred from Central Valley 

 Investigations to become the new Chief (January 

 1950). 



specially designed for investigations on the 

 Great Lakes has been considered as an independ- 

 ent "station" . The Siscowet , a gill -net tug, re- 

 modelled for hydrographic work and for light 

 trawling was purchased in 1952 and assigned to 

 the Marquette station. The Musky, a trap -net 

 boat purchased in 1951 has been employed in 

 various studies in Green Bay, northern Lake 

 Huron, and Saginaw Bay. 



Although the allotments continued to be 

 substantial in fiscal years 19SI-1956 following 

 the expansion of the investigations in 1950, this 

 period was not a time of budgetary tranquility. 

 In not one of of the 6 years was the final allotment 

 as listed in table 1 included in the Fish and Wild- 

 life Service budget as submitted to Congress. 

 Annually, supplemental sums were added to the 

 Department of the Interior budget in the U.S. 

 Senate --in committee or from the floor; on 

 occasion it seemed that the Investigations might 

 be dismantled. In 1953, for example, the out- 

 look for fiscal year 1954 was so poor that more 

 than half the staff was placed under notice of 

 "reduction in force" and the sea lamprey control 

 operations on Lake Superior were discontinued 

 in mid-season. Some staff members resigned 

 because of the persistent uncertainties of 

 employment . 



It is believed that Great Lakes Fishery 

 Investigations finally reached a dependable level 

 of financial stability in fiscal year 1957 when 

 funds for sea lamprey activities were obtained 

 by contract with the Great Lakes Fishery Com- 

 mission, established by treaty with Canada. It 

 is anticipated that under this new international 

 arrangement the lamprey program will receive 

 the sustained and adequate support required for 

 sensibly planned and orderly advancement . It 

 is hoped also that fishery research may be sup- 

 ported more dependably through regular Service 

 appropriations . 



Headquarters for the expanded Great 

 Lakes Fishery Investigations continued to be in 

 Ann Arbor, Mich. Field stations were estab- 

 lished in 1950 at Hammond Bay (near Rogers 

 City, Mich.), Marquette, Mich., and Sturgeon 

 Bay, Wis., and in 1956 at Ludington, Mich. 

 (The Sturgeon Bay station was closed in 1953 and 

 its activities transferred to Ann Arbor.) The 

 60-foot research vessel Cisco (launched in 1951), 



The Sea Lamprey Program 



A division of the sea lamprey program 

 into "research" and "control" activities is a 

 matter of convenience and to a large degree 

 artificial. All phases of the work --research on 

 the lamprey to find vulnerable points in its life 

 history, development and testing of control 

 methods, and large-scale application of these 



