International Sea lamprey workshop, Falkenberg 16-18 October 2023

The County Administrative Board in Halland hosted the event and solved the practical arrangements, which included a guided tour and dinner with the Governor at Halmstad Castle!

During three days 26 researchers and conservationists from Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, Portugal, USA, and Sweden met to share knowledge and discuss important conservation issues.

Participants 16-18 October 2023. Foto: Lars Molander

Programme

16 October

11:30 Short introduction, practical information
Elisabeth Thysell, County Administrative Board in Halland, Sweden

12:00 Lunch

13:00 Welcome to Sweden! Species Action Framework
Michael Diemer, Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Managemen

13:10 Sea lamprey: status and trends - an introduction to the workshop
Mikael Svensson, SLU Swedish Species Information Centre

13:15 Dwindling populations in Sweden (PDF 6 MB)
Elisabeth Thysell, County Administrative Board in Halland, and Lars Molander, County Administrative Board in Västra Götaland, Sweden

13:35 Overview on habitat restoration and fisheries management in Portugal (PDF 13 MB)
Pedro R. Almeida, University of Évora - MARE, Portugal

14:05 Sea lamprey monitoring and conservation status assessment: an Irish perspective (PDF 4 MB)
Sean Rooney, Inland Fisheries Ireland

14:25 Trends in lamprey populations in France, with the identification and classification of factors in the decline (PDF 5 MB)
Marius Dhamelincourt and Laurent Beaulaton, OFB-INRAE-Institut Agro-UPPA center, France

14:45 Herting fish passage - an introduction (PDF 5 MB)
Olle Calles, Karlstad University, Sweden 

15:00 Fika

15:30 Visit at the Herting fish passage
Johan Ljunggren, Falkenbergs Energi, Sweden, and Olle Calles, Karlstad University, Sweden

17:30 Status of Sea lamprey in Belgium (PDF 3 MB)
Johan Coeck, Research Institute for Nature and Forest in Belgium 

17 October

EXCURSION: SEA LAMPREY HABITAT

08:30 Excursion, bus departs

09:15 Guided tour at Nydala watermill
Hans Schibli Lundahl, County Administrative Board in Halland, Sweden.

10:00 Guided walk along the foremost Sea lamprey spawning river in Sweden
Elisabeth Thysell and Hans Schibli Lundahl, County Administrative  Board in Halland, Sweden

12:15 Lunch

13:15 Ammocoetes: habitat and feeding (PDF 10,5 MB)
Ningping Gong, Texas Tech University, USA, and University of Gothenburg, Sweden

13:45 Overfishing and the decrease of big fish in the Kattegat-Skagerrak area
Markus Lundgren, Swedish Anglers Association

14:15 Pressures and threats - concluding discussion

15:00 Fika

15:30 Update on the Status of the Sea Lamprey in the US (PDF 3,5 MB)
Steve Gephard, Connecticut Cepartment of Energy and Environmental Protection, USA 

15:50 Sea lamprey - current status in Canada (PDF 1,5)
Margaret Docker, University of Manitoba, Canada 

16:10 Common understanding of current status

16:30 Session ends

19:00 Dinner at Halmstad Castle

18 October

08:30 Transplantation of Pre-spawn Adult Sea Lamprey as an Important Restoration Strategy (PDF 3,5 MB)
Steve Gephard, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, USA 

09:00 Conservaton implications of anadromous Sea Lamprey population structure, status and evolutionary history (PDF 4 MB)
Eleana Karachaliou, University of Manitoba, Canada

09:30 Improving knowledge on sea lamprey conservation and sustainable fisheries using genomic tools (PDF 12 MB)
Inês Oliveira, University of Évora - MARE, Portugal 

10:00 Fika

10:30 Transnational management and conservation of diadromous fishes across the AA (the INTERREG Atlantic Area DiadES and DiadSea projects) (PDF 6,7 MB)
Catarina Mateus, University of Évora - MARE, Portugal 

10:55 Discussion: How to save the Sea lamprey. Common threats? Management? Conservation? Most important measures? International work and cooperation? Ways forward?

11:55 Concluding remarks
Michael Diemer, Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management

12:00 Lunch