Lamprey fisheries: History, trends and management

• Published in: Journal of Great Lakes Research
• Main Authors: Almeida, Pedro, Arakawa, Hiroaki, Aronsuu, Kimmo, Baker, Cindy, Blair, Stevie-Rae, Beaulaton, Laurent, Belo, Ana, Kitson, Jane, Kucheryavyy, Aleksandr, Kynard, Boyd, Lucas, Martyn, Moser, Mary, Potaka, Ben, Romakkaniemi, Atso, Staponkus, Robertas, Tamarapa, Sam, Yanai, Seiji, Yang, Gang, Zhang, Tao, Zhuang, Ping
• Other Authors: Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia Évora (ECT), Universidade de Évora, Ishikawa Prefectural University, University of Oulu, National Institute of Water and Atmosphere Hamilton (NIWA), Office français de la biodiversité (OFB), Pôle OFB-INRAE- Agrocampus Ouest-UPPA pour la gestion des migrateurs amphihalins dans leur environnement, AGROCAMPUS OUEST-Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Office français de la biodiversité (OFB), University of Évora Portugal, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst), University of Massachusetts System (UMASS), Durham University, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), Klaipėda University Lituanie (KU), Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Lamprey harvestH; istorical records; Fishing gears; Overfishing; Management actions; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Arctic; Pacific; Climate change
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03283049; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2021.06.006

International audience Three anadromous lamprey species support important commercial fisheries in the northern hemisphere, sea lamprey in the Iberian Peninsula and France, European river lamprey in the Baltic Sea countries and Russia, and Arctic lamprey in Russia. Pacific lamprey, Caspian lamprey, Korean lamprey and pouched lamprey are harvested for subsistence and local commerce on the Pacific coast of North America, and in Russia, China and Oceania, respectively. Habitat loss caused by human activities in rivers have reduced lamprey populations and collapsed most commercial fisheries worldwide. Overfishing is a concern because traditional fishing gears (e.g., pots, fyke nets) target lampreys during their upstream migration, usually in physical bottlenecks, which can result in exceedingly high fishing mortality. The reduction in catches has inflated lamprey prices and encouraged illegal fishing in certain countries (e.g., Portugal, Russia). The success of management actions for lamprey fisheries could be at risk due to knowledge gaps that still exist regarding stock structure, estimates of stage-specific mortality, distribution at sea, preferred hosts, and climate change impacts to the distribution and availability of adequate hosts. There is an urgent need for good-quality data from reported commercial landings and also from monitoring studies regarding the efficacy of mitigation and restoration efforts (e.g., habitat restoration, fishing regulations, artificial rearing and stocking). Involving the general public and stakeholders in the management and conservation of lampreys through outreach actions is crucial to promote the protection of the ecological and cultural values of lampreys and the understanding of their vulnerability. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Great Lakes Research.