No bait needed for this catch

The truck used by Michael's Wholesale
Bait to transport fish.

Two Massachusetts businessmen were convicted Friday of three felony charges each in federal court for unlawfully dealing in millions of dollars of live freshwater fish without the required state permits. The case illustrates the protection that state and federal wildlife law provide to our waters and wildlife – and the strong partnership vital to enforcing that protection.

In 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement was alerted by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Massachusetts Environmental Police that something wasn’t quite right at Michael’s Wholesale Bait of West Springfield, Mass.

Hydrilla closes in on the Great Lakes

The first collection of Hydrilla verticillata from
Tonawanda Creek. Credit: USFWS

You don’t necessarily need to be looking for an aquatic invasive species to find it. Sometimes it appears when you least expect it.

That’s exactly what happened in early September, when Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office staff discovered Hydrilla verticillata, a highly invasive aquatic plant, in the New York State Canal System in Tonawanda, N.Y. The location was literally at the base of a boat ramp, a highly visible area that should lend itself to early discovery.

Nonetheless, it apparently went unnoticed for some time, hiding within the abundant native plants, particularly Canadian/common waterweed, a native aquatic plant similar in appearance. The distinction between the two is important, as hydrilla crowds out waterweeds and other essential plants. It slows water flow and can clog lakes and rivers enough to even eliminate swimming or boating.

Taking control of sea lamprey in the Lake Champlain Basin

More than 100 years ago, a parasitic, snake-like fish hitchhiked a ride to America’s sixth Great Lake – invading the almost 500-square-mile Lake Champlain straddling Vermont and New York. At least, that’s what some say. 

Sea lamprey. Credit: USFWS

Other information indicates the fish—sea lamprey—may be native to the lake and even a resident since the last ice age. Either way, the sea lamprey grew in numbers and preyed on native fish. By the 1900s, native salmon and lake trout were no longer found in Lake Champlain. When sea lamprey impeded efforts to bring the fish back, concern grew about populations of this parasitic fish.

A single sea lamprey kills 40 or more pounds of fish in its life as a parasite. They attach to host fish and feed on their blood and body fluids, leaving a wound at risk for infection. The lamprey is often confused with eels because it is jawless, but its circular sucking disk helps to distinguish it from the American eel, which has a true jaw. Inland adults average 24 to 30 inches in length.