Horns, W.H., 1997.  Lessons From Lake Superior, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

ABSTRACT
Ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus) were discovered in the St. Louis River in 1986. Several actions have been taken to limit the spread of ruffe. In 1993, the national Ruffe Control Committee proposed a range reduction strategy that would have involved the use of selective chemical toxicants to kill ruffe in river mouths along the southern shore of Lake Superior. That strategy was the subject of considerable debate, and was never implemented. The debate reflected, but did not clarify, widely divergent views about the objectives and biological assumptions of the proposed treatments. Members of the Ruffe Control Committee and interested observers, including the Wisconsin DNR, apparently differed on such basic questions as whether the goal was total or partial control of the eastward spread of ruffe and whether that would require total or partial elimination of ruffe from river mouths. In this presentation, I will review that debate with the goal of illustrating the importance and difficulty of reaching clear agreement about the objectives and assumptions behind control strategies.

Contact: William H. Horns, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 101 South Webster Street, Madison, WI 53707 or hornsw@dnr.state.wi.us
Keywords: Ruffe, Prevention, Chemical_control
Product Type: Publications, Conference_proceedings
User Type: General