Application of a putative alarm cue hastens the arrival of invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) at a trapping location

Abstract

The sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus is an invasive pest in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin, threatening the persistence of important commercial and recreational fisheries. There is substantial interest in developing effective trapping practices via the application of behavior-modifying semiochemicals (odors). Here we report on the effectiveness of utilizing repellent and attractant odors in a push–pull configuration, commonly employed to tackle invertebrate pests, to improve trapping efficacy at permanent barriers to sea lamprey migration. When a half-stream channel was activated by a naturally derived repellent odor (a putative alarm cue), we found that sea lamprey located a trap entrance significantly faster than when no odor was present as a result of their redistribution within the stream. The presence of a partial sex pheromone, acting as an attractant within the trap, was not found to further decrease the time to when sea lamprey located a trap entrance relative to when the alarm cue alone was applied. Neither the application of alarm cue singly nor alarm cue and partial sex pheromone in combination was found to improve the numbers of sea lamprey captured in the trap versus when no odor was present—likely because nominal capture rate during control trials was unusually high during the study period. Behavioural guidance using these odors has the potential to both improve control of invasive non-native sea lamprey in the Great Lakes as well as improving the efficiency of fish passage devices used in the restoration of threatened lamprey species elsewhere.