Operation of the Pere Marquette River Electrical Barrier (Lamprey Weir) near Custer will not be continued for the 2010 season. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service document states that the barrier will be removed and the property will be returned to it’s natural state.
This project, that has been a disaster from the beginning, has been a dark period for the wild fishery of the Pere Marquette. The thought of allowing an experimental barrier on the longest free flowing river in Michigan seems like a laughable idea but unfortunately it happened. This floundering project never came close to accomplishing it’s goal and at the same time significantly limited both the up and downstream migration of fish, something we were all assured would not happen.
Rumors have been bouncing for almost a year that this project was teetering on its last leg, then several weeks ago there was off-the-record news that the project was voted to be closed and finally the real-deal, an official document… PDF — Operation of the Pere Marquette Electrical Barrier.
