Registration and application of sea lamprey pheromones for sea lamprey control in the United States and Canada

Since the identification of 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol as a lampricide in the 1950s, control of sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes has largely relied on lampricides, barriers, and traps. Lampricide treatments target larval lampreys in tributaries of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission oversees sea lamprey control efforts and has invested in technologies that may target other life stages to provide a more integrated approach to sea lamprey control. One technology under development is the use of pheromones to alter behavior of spawning adults. Pheromones are considered biopesticides, which are substances made from naturally occurring products, or derived from living organisms, or a microorganism, that controls pests. We provide a review of sea lamprey management that led to the development of pheromone registration. We also describe the process used to register the first vertebrate pheromone, 3-ketopetromyzonal-24-sulfate (3kPZS) in the United States and Canada and its potential uses in sea lamprey control as a supplemental tool to chemical lampricides. Published by Elsevier 2020. 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/).

Automated summary

Control of sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes has relied on lampricides, barriers, and traps since the 1950s. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission oversees these efforts and has invested in technologies targeting different life stages of sea lampreys. One technology under development is the use of pheromones to alter the behavior of spawning adults, considered as biopesticides.