During November-December 2022 Vincent Bijman spent several weeks in the US and Canada, where he was researching the invasive Sea Lamprey and the Mongoose. He traveled to Washington, D.C., Ann Arbor, Michigan, Toronto, Ontario, and Hawaii.

Archives that he visited included the Sea Lamprey control office (Great Lakes Fishery Commission) in Ann Arbor and the Archives of Ontario, where he visited the Animalia: Animals in the Archives exhibition.

Vincent found an array of primary sources from the 1940s-1970s related to efforts to control the Sea Lamprey in the Great Lakes, including letters, reports, pictures, and newspaper clippings. He also conducted interviews with fishermen who were involved in Sea Lamprey control in Michigan.

Top Images: (left) Poster used in 1947 and 1948 campaigns to request the aid of the public in reporting sea lamprey spawning runs; (right) Sea Lampreys captured in a gill net [by the author V. Applegate] in Ocqueoc Lake, June 25, 1947. Credit: V. Applegate. (1950) Natural History of the Sea Lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, in Michigan (1950).

Bottom Images: (left) A Michigan Department of Conservation officer hoists a dip net full of sea lampreys out of the Ocqueoc River barrier trap, c. 1940s (Presque Isle County, Michigan); (middle) Sea Lamprey taken at the Clinton River, Macomb County, Michigan. May 27, 1939; (right) Vernon Applegate dissects Sea Lampreys as part of his analysis based on fieldwork at the Ocqueoc river, Presque Isle County, Michigan. 1947. Credit: USGS Great Lakes Science Center, by the courtesy of the John van Oosten Archives.