Capitol News

Michigan State University researchers are addressing a complex challenge: preventing invasive fish from entering a river without blocking all fish. A team led by a behavioral ecologist and two engineers, commissioned by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), aims to develop a selective fish barrier in Traverse City over the next decade. This project, named FishPass, is designed to allow desirable fish such as lake sturgeon and walleye into the river while blocking invasive sea lampreys.

Michael Wagner, an associate professor at MSU’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Applied Behavioral Ecology Lab, is contributing his expertise on sea lampreys. Concurrently, MSU engineers Xiaobo Tan and Nelson Sepulveda are developing smart panels that could be integrated into FishPass.

The project involves collaboration with other universities and state and federal organizations, including the U.S. Geological Survey, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The goal is to create technology that can be replicated globally for invasive species control.

Tan emphasized the need for interdisciplinary collaboration: “When we talk about aquatic ecosystems or animals in water, there’s naturally a need for collaboration.”

FishPass is part of a broader effort to restore natural river flow in Michigan. Since the 1800s, dams on the Boardman/Ottaway River have disrupted natural habitats. Over two decades, three upstream dams were removed to reconnect 160 miles of the river.

Sea lampreys are parasitic fish known for their destructive impact on native species like lake trout. They entered the Great Lakes through manmade locks in the 1800s. The GLFC has used chemicals like lampricide to reduce their population by 90%.

Dan Zielinski from GLFC highlighted the project's significance: “You have to make the management decision of either barrier removal for improved connectivity versus barrier retention for invasive species control.”

FishPass aims to sort native fish while blocking sea lampreys using techniques inspired by single-stream recycling. Researchers will experiment with different methods over ten years to achieve selective passage.

Wagner explained how they might use sea lamprey traits against them: “The solutions that we work on are largely rooted in how we can change the information landscape from an animal’s perspective.”

Smart panels developed by Tan and Sepulveda could play a role in this process by detecting sea lamprey presence through suction-triggered sensors or electric shocks.

Success will be measured by tracking tagged desirable fish passing through FishPass and monitoring for sea lamprey larvae upstream. The ultimate goal is fully automated selective passage within ten years.

Wagner acknowledged potential challenges but expressed confidence: “We’re trying to do something nobody’s ever done before.”