Re: NANFA-- lamprey bites (correction)

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Fri, 10 Aug 2001 13:11:39 -0400

<x-flowed>
At the same time as the fisheries were collapsing, industrial and sewage
pollution was also increasing. A major reason that laundry detergents in the
U.S. don't contain phosphates today is because of what happened to the more
industrial Great Lakes in the 1950s and 1960s. As general affluence
increased and more phosphates-containing effluents entered the Lakes, they
became eutrophic in some areas from enhanced nutrient load. With the top
predators largely gone, another exotic fish, the Alewife Herring, went
through a population explosion in the eutrophic waters. To add to the
problems, Alewife populations would go through boom and crash cycles
resulting in occasional huge "islands" of dead Alewife that could be 5 miles
long and 2 miles wide. Not a pretty sight...

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A

>I still wonder whether the lamprey was a real cause of the decline or just,
>as you say, a convenient scapegoat. kind of like how the carp is blamed for
>the decline of other game fish, when in fact it was introduced as a
>replacement species to natives that were disappearing due to habitat
>destruction.
>
>
>Mark Columbus Ohio USA <))>< mbinkley_at_columbus.rr.com

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
</x-flowed>