Canada is investing an additional C$8 million ($6.2 million) over two years to help prevent the spread of invasive sea lamprey into the Great Lakes. The funding provided to the Great Lakes Fishery Commis- sion will be directed toward improving physical barriers that prevent the parasitic species from reaching spawning and nursery habitats in several rivers that feed into the Great Lakes, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada said in a June 9 statement. It also will go toward maintaining and improving "low-head" barriers that block sea lampreys but permit other fish to cross, and rehabilitating dams that also play a role in sea lamprey control, the department said. First introduced into the Great Lakes in the 1800s, sea lampreys have been responsible for vast destruction of Great Lakes fish and the ecosystem, it said. The new funding is in addition to the C$8.1 million ($6.3 million) Canada contributes annually to the Sea Lamprey Control Program, which has used lampri-cides (chemicals that kill sea lamprey larvae), physical barriers and trapping to reduce sea lamprey populations by 90 percent in most areas of the Great Lakes.
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