Trade-offs between suppression and eradication of sea lampreys from the Great Lakes

Ecosystem managers confronted with newly invasive species may respond with a program of suppression or eradication. Suppression of an invasive species refers to management of a species such that its effect on other biota in the local ecosystem is acceptable. Eradication is the removal of all individuals of a species from a defined region. We examine the cost and benefit trade-offs between suppression and eradication of Laurentian Great Lakes sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) based on discussions at the 3rd Sea Lamprey International Symposium (held in 2019). Substantial effort has been expended annually since the 1960s to suppress sea lampreys in the Great Lakes basin. Choosing between suppression and eradication is a value judgement, ideally made jointly by scientists, decision-makers, stakeholders, and society. Successful large-scale eradications have been limited to a small number of cases for which the cost to human society justified and supported the long-term commitment necessary for success. The greatest challenge to successful eradication of sea lampreys from the Great Lakes may be a suitable social, political, legal, and institutional environment. Preparations could be made now for a transition in which public pushback on current control methods (pesticide applications and barriers to fish passage) leads to more extensive use of an alternative control method, such as genetic control. Published by Elsevier 2021. The contribution to this work by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) author was provided as part of the USGS authors official duties as an employee of the United States Government, and this contribution is a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S. C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law and the CC BY license shall therefore not apply to the USGS authors contribution to the work. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).