Debbie Dingell: “However, I would like my colleagues to understand something about the importance of the lamprey control program in the…”

“However, I would like my colleagues to understand something about the importance of the lamprey control program in the Great Lakes. The cost of this program is miniscule. The value of the fishery in the Great Lakes alone is better than $4 billion. Each salmon and each lake trout which are a part of the prey of the lamprey is worth better than $70 each, to each of the States in which it is caught. So the value of this fishery is enormous. A great and prosperous fishery is threatened by an alien species which has come into the Great Lakes. A few years ago better than 1 in 3 fish caught in the Great Lakes had a lamprey attached to it. The destruction of the fishery was enormous and the cost to the people both in terms of aesthetics and in terms of fish and wildlife values and just plain cash money was enormous. It is my hope that this program can be continued unimpaired.”