fleas

[Danl851]

It is not only the pan fish that they will cause a problem for. Any young fry or fingerling that prey on plankton will be affected by the spiny water flea. They will try and eat them and the result is death.

[Lavman]

It is not only the pan fish that they will cause a problem for. Any young fry or fingerling that prey on plankton will be affected by the spiny water flea. They will try and eat them and the result is death.

Yes, this is correct. It seems the perch frye and panfish frye are more suseptible from what I read but yes, all the frye that feed on zooplankton will be affected as I understand it.

It is no beuno all the way around.

[Ozzys Obsession]

We use 30 lb on lake ontario, you can still buy flea flicker line but have had better luck with mono. Wire dipsys are the way to go , over braid.

[vtfishbio]

Guys, we should be careful of the "sky is falling" mentality. What you read on the internet and what the reality will be can be two very different things. Yes it's true, spiny waterflea tails and barbs are not digestible by most fish species, but the bodies are. They can pass the spines, or cough them up, but they don't get any nutritional value out of the spines. It's certain that SWF are going to make it a pain in the butt for Champlain downriggers and trollers, but strictly speaking in terms of negative impacts to the lake's fish populations and fishing quality, I very seriously doubt we will see any changes going forward.

Visions of perch and panfish and juvenile trout and salmon choking to death on spiny waterfleas are not a reality. As a matter of fact, in some inland lakes in Ontario where SWF have spread, up on the Canadian Shield - deep, oligotrophic waters that are primarily lake trout lakes, lake herring (cisco) have actually preferentially switched over to feeding 100% on spiny waterflea. I guess they just think they are tasty little snacks. They have no trouble eating them, they don't choke on them, and there's been no decreases in their populations. Similarly, in Lake Erie about 75% of the diets of alewife and 25% of the diets of rainbow smelt are made up of spiny waterflea. Fish can and will eat them without really any impacts at all.

The yellow perch and walleye populations on Lake Erie are is still booming, and the commercial fishery catches they support are still good and strong, after more than 10 years of the SWF being there. That wouldn't be the case if young fish are choking or starving to death because of SWF.

SWF like to be out in open water, over deep areas. They don't like shallow water or nearshore areas. They inhabit mostly the epilimnion (the part of the water column located above the thermocline).

There's a lot of misinformation or incomplete information out there on SWF's direct impacts to fish populations. Most of it isn't true. I'm not saying SWF arriving is a good thing. But it's not going to collapse our fisheries in Lake Champlain.

To me, the biggest red flag coming out of this discovery is that it makes it clear that we still haven't addressed the vectors responsible for allowing aquatic invasive species to reach Lake Champlain. SWF is the 50th invasive species in the lake. That's not good. My biggest question is "What's coming next?". We'll probably get lucky and not have the SWF cause harm to the fishery, other than the inconveniences to anglers and boaters. But cumulatively, the more AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species) that show up in the lake, the worse the overall situation gets. The next arrival could be much worse, and we have to do a better job - all responsible Agencies and the public - at educating ourselves and others, incorporating spread prevention measures into our regular boating/fishing routine, addressing the various ways these things are getting here by - whether it's connected waters, overland transport on boats/trailers, or careless neglect, or even malicious purposeful introduction.

What's that last one mean? People purposely move things around, for selfish reasons. In the last 10 years, it seems like black crappie have shown up in just about every lake and pond around the state. Northern Pike as well - pike never occurred naturally in VT east of the Green Mountains, but now they are in dozens of lakes on the east side of the state. Lake Dunmore now has smallmouth bass and a reproducing population of channel catfish, and Chittenden Reservoir now has smallmouth bass. These fish didn't fly there on their own. Someone purposely transported these fish alive in tanks to those lakes and let them go - which, by the way - is illegal. The channel catfish clearly came from Lake Champlain (they don't occur "naturally" anywhere else in the state). It's likely that the smallmouth bass in Dunmore and Chittenden also came from Champlain. So - what else was in the water in the tanks or tubs or buckets those fish were transported in? Milfoil fragments? Zebra mussel larvae? Spiny Water Flea? Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus? Some people don't think about the potential repercussions, or just don't care.

But how many more pieces of straw will it take to finally break the proverbial back of Lake Champlain. The Great Lakes collectively have nearly 100 different aquatic invasive species established there now. We only have 50. But we're a much smaller water. How many more times do we want to spin the chamber and pull the trigger, and hope it doesn't go off?

[Thorny]

Thanks for the insight Shawn! Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

[fishmaster176]

Thanks Shawn for taking time to post a better scenario concerning the little invaders. It's difficult to know who to believe when such an event happens. Your post makes good sense and we can only hope we have the same results and keep a decent fishery for future generations. Human interference is the bane of all good things. I encourage the State to hold seminars and participate in the winter seminars organized by LCU. I'm sure the SWF will be a popular topic for the next few years until we all learn to deal with the little buggers.

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Thanks Shawn for the very informative clarification.

[Reelax]

Best news I have heard all year Shawn... Thanks for the info!

[digitroll (ron)]

Good observations Shawn and your right about the "sky is not falling".

[Sleepswithdafishes]

Well done Shawn I caught your interview the other nite on wcax,very well done!!! Thank you for correcting some of the misinformation thats out there!!! This is a problem for sure but as stated not doomsday!!! Yet!! Sleeps

[raz]

Thanks for taking the time to post here Shawn.
I "think" I feel better about the fleas...time will tell.

[Lavman]

So according to one report of the SWF affects on Harp Lake in Ontario:

"Harp Lake in Ontario was found to have eight different species of fish in 1980 when the spiny water flea was first discovered there. The number of native fish steadily dropped down to two species in 2000."

Does anyone know what the 8 species were and also, which 2 remain? I remain concerned about how the SWF will impact the fishery and in particular the perch which, not to get off track, are already heavily targeted by commercial fishing.

VTFISHBIO: Thanks for the informative post. Lots of good information there, knowledge is power.

[Boatless in BTV]

People purposely move things around, for selfish reasons. In the last 10 years, it seems like black crappie have shown up in just about every lake and pond around the state. Northern Pike as well - pike never occurred naturally in VT east of the Green Mountains, but now they are in dozens of lakes on the east side of the state. Lake Dunmore now has smallmouth bass and a reproducing population of channel catfish, and Chittenden Reservoir now has smallmouth bass. These fish didn't fly there on their own. Someone purposely transported these fish alive in tanks to those lakes and let them go - which, by the way - is illegal. The channel catfish clearly came from Lake Champlain (they don't occur "naturally" anywhere else in the state). It's likely that the smallmouth bass in Dunmore and Chittenden also came from Champlain.

I'm going off topic here, but this part of your statement brought to mind something I've been wondering about for quite a while. Is there an official rationale for why VTFW spends so much effort and money stocking what are effectively invasive species in Lake Champlain in Steelhead and Brown Trout? I can't help wondering if that money couldn't be better spent by trying to restore native species such as sauger, brook trout or sturgeon, by expanding the musky restoration program, or by researching why the restoration efforts for lake trout aren't working.

Either way, thanks Shawn for all your efforts on behalf of the state's anglers.

[vtfishbio]

So according to one report of the SWF affects on Harp Lake in Ontario:

"Harp Lake in Ontario was found to have eight different species of fish in 1980 when the spiny water flea was first discovered there. The number of native fish steadily dropped down to two species in 2000."

Does anyone know what the 8 species were and also, which 2 remain? I remain concerned about how the SWF will impact the fishery and in particular the perch which, not to get off track, are already heavily targeted by commercial fishing.

VTFISHBIO: Thanks for the informative post. Lots of good information there, knowledge is power.

LavMan - this is a very good question. The following email that I sent to WCAX after that story aired (copied below) will clear that up for you ....

From: Good, Shawn [mailto:Shawn.Good@state.vt.us]
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 2:52 PM
To: WCAX

In regards to the story you ran last night on WCAX that I was part of (http://www.wcax.com/story/26548528/how- ... -champlain), I’m curious who at the Lake Champlain Research Institute gave you the information you reported on regarding Spiny Water Flea impacts to fish populations in Harp Lake, Ontario. I’d like to follow up with them, as their information they provided to you is inaccurate.

Although I’m a fisheries biologist with Vermont, I’m from Ontario originally, and worked for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for a number of years. I still have many friends and colleagues who work there, and after seeing the information presented last night in your broadcast that mentioned losses of fish species in Harp Lake following the arrival of spiny water flea, I contacted several folks in Ontario to verify, because it just didn’t seem right to me.

One of the OMNR’s invasive species biologist responded with a copy of a research paper that discussed changes in zooplankton species, but nothing about fish species. It seems the Lake Champlain Research Institute confused decreases in zooplankton species (specifically Cladoceran species dropping from 7 to 2) with decreases in fish species. There’s a large difference in the level of ecological impact when comparing the loss of a few species of one family of zooplankton versus numbers of fish species.

The OMNR tells me that there are still over a dozen native fish species (including lake herring, which prefer to feed on spiny water flea) in the lake, and that NO fish species present in Harp Lake prior to the arrival of spiny water flea have since disappeared or declined in numbers.

This underscores the message I’ve been giving to worried anglers that there’s no evidence out there that Spiny Water Flea has caused fish declines other waters, and most likely won’t cause declines or decreases in fish populations in Lake Champlain.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Shawn Good, VTFWD Fisheries Biologist

-------------------------

WCAX responded to my email later and apologized, saying they interpreted information incorrectly that the Lake Champlain Research Institute provided them. They said they would add a retraction to their online story, but I don't know if they did so yet.

-- Shawn

[raz]

It doesn't look like they retracted it, but they did correct it.
http://www.wcax.com/story/26548528/how- ... -champlain