The Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMWI) and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) co-hosted a live sea lamprey encounter on Capitol Hill on Thursday, June 5th. The event, held in cooperation with Rep. Marcy Kaptur and the Great Lakes Task Force, gave attendees a chance to see these invasive species up close (or, for the bold, a chance to have a lamprey attached on them). Over 100 people attended from 35 Congressional offices, including Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (pictured above).

Sea lamprey, invasive to the Great Lakes, pose an existential threat to the Great Lakes fishery. Lamprey attach themselves to fish and drain their blood, killing the fish. One sea lamprey can kill 46 pounds of fish in its lifetime. They are controlled by the lampricide TFM, deployed by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, that kills sea lamprey larvae without harming anything else in the ecosystem and has reduced lamprey populations by 90% from their peak. This control must continue; in its absence, sea lamprey populations would quickly rebound and imperil the $5.1 billion Great Lakes fishery.