A DECISION ANALYSIS ASSESSING THE TRADE-OFF BETWEEN SEA LAMPREY CONTROL AND REHABILITATION OF NATIVE FISHES AT DE FACTO SEA LAMPREY BARRIERS

This project will use a formal decision analysis to quantify, and assist with finding solutions to, the trade-off that can occur between using dams to restrict the movement and reproduction of invasive fishes and removing dams or providing fish passage to facilitate the movement and reproduction of desirable native fishes. Within the Great Lakes, an evaluation of management decisions to restrict the movement and reproduction of invasive species (barriers), or enhance the movement and reproduction of native species (fish passage, dam removal), is needed to ensure the these decisions are balanced, sound, and scientifically defensible. Concerns about the dam on the Black Sturgeon River, Lake Superior, ON and its effects on sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) control and rehabilitation of walleye (Sander vitreus) and lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) provides an example. Our decision analysis will provide a formal framework and set of generic modeling platforms to quantify the trade- off between control of invasive species and restoration of native fishes in rivers.