Swimmer’s Itch – A Divided Effort
In the shot glass sized cup (a comunion cup actually) under the microscope you can see the quivering hair like cercariae that cause swimmers itch. There are lots of them. The microscope is in the lab set up by SICON in connection with the swimmer’s itch control program now under way under contract with the Higgins Lake Simmer’s Itch Organization (HLSIO).
During a weeks visit to the lake, I had an opportunity to talk with Mr. Ken Dennings representing HLSIO and Dr. Curt Blankespoor, his dad Dr. Harvey Blankespoor and Ronald Reimink, lead scientists with SICON. According to Mr. Dennings, trapping started on June 8 when a brood of 14 mergansers was trapped. SICON has also scooped up over 5000 snails from various locations around the lake. Roughly 1 in 100 snails is infected, so the itch causing cercariae are already present in the lake. Snails have a 13 month lifespan, so many of these presumably are survivors from last summer.
The SICON program began early in the spring. The plan was to attempt to locate common merganser nests and, when found, either oiling the eggs or recording their locations. According to Dr. Blankespoor, what they soon discovered was that the harassment program conducted by Gerrish Township was scaring the birds and making it impossible to get reliable information. The harassment also interfered with the bird’s normal behavior. “We needed to key on stereotypical behaviors of brooding females. Those behaviors were not easily observed with all the harassment, so we weren’t able to accomplish finding as many nests as we had hoped.” There are a couple candidate nests. “Again, when you’re trying to look at the natural behavior of the birds with pyrotechnics being fired all over the place it’s kind of hard. They spook.”
Northpoint Fisheries, LLC
SICON dissected 23 birds which were turned over by the Gerrish contractor, Northpoint Fisheries, LLC, headed by Dr. Steven Sendek and Dr. Mark Luttenton, under a contract with Gerrish Township. SICON found there were at least 7 males taken and two Red Breasted Mergansers. The rest were Common Merganser females. According to the Dr. Blankespoor, eight (8) of them were reproductively active to varying degrees. Some had fully developed eggs in their oviducts but a couple were in the very beginning states of egg development. The rest were not breeding. The degradation permits do not cover the less common Red Breasted Mergansers. The two killed were found not to be infected. Dr. Blankespoor noted that he has pictures of those birds “if you really need to see them but it’s pretty gruesome.”
The Northpoint Report and Mr. Frank Homola, Gerrish Township Supervisor, claim that only Common Mergansers were taken. I tend to believe SICON. According to Dr. Blankespoor, they have pictures and the identification has been confirmed by two leading ornithologists in the state. He says they were not breeding, so they look a lot like Common Mergansers. He says it’s one of the reasons they don’t shoot because it’s really hard to tell the difference. He also says that, as a courtesy, data was sent to Mr. Homola and that SICON was legally obligated to send its findings to the DRN and the Fish and Wildlife Service with copies to Mr. Homola.
Shooting Males Does Not Help
According to Dr. Blankespoor, “shooting males does not help.” Male Mergansers do not stay at the lake, leaving by late spring. He believes there is only one left on the lake at this time. Although some males are infected, the infection is not spread from the birds to the snails until the water reaches higher temperatures later in the spring. By then the males are gone.
Lethal Takes
Dr. Blankespoor stated, “We’re allowed to take 20 birds for scientific purposes. One of the questions that remain unknown for mergansers is that some appear to be females with non breeding plumage – there are 6 or 8 around Treasure Island. No one knows if they are all females or whether they are a mixed batch. They are probably second year birds, but no one knows that either. So we’re going to use up to 20 lethal takes and dissect them to determine the sex.” Also of interest are a couple of different methods of sterilization by surgery that has proven successful. He mentioned an interest in chemical sterilization using some chemicals that are available for Canada Geese. “We’d like to try them for Common Mergansers. That is something we hope to do in the future – maybe as early as next year if we’re working here next year. That seems to be the best choice if you catch a female - there’s a good chance she will come back and have broods in the future.”
Brood Traps
SICON is using specially designed traps to capture broods. These consist of a large net suspended under water from four poles. The attachment to the poles consists of spring loaded lines that are guided up the poles when release by a remote signal. The ducks get caught in the net. This includes the mother duck that needs a long horizontal run to be able to take off. Nor will she leave her young. Broods can be herded for long distances to get them into position for the trapping. The first trapping which occurred June 10th resulted in a capture of a brood with 14 birds. Their permit allows for the capture of up to 150 birds on Higgins and Lime lakes.
Nest Boxes
According to Dr. Blankespoor, there are document cases that you actually end up with more breeding pairs with nest boxes. “That’s counter to what we want to do. If the assumption is that they would choose a nest box over a natural cavity, then the idea of using nest boxes for control would work. But most birds, given the protection of a natural nesting site and if they’ve had experience with a successful nesting site, they’re going to go there.” He predicted that there wouldn’t be any birds in nest boxes this year because it usually takes the females a year to find a spot where they will nest next year. Migratory birds may not have nested here in the first place may use them.
Snail Removal by Property Owners
Asked about what property owners can do, Dr. Blankespoor said, “We do think it’s possible for property owners to collect snails. Most of the snails in the areas we’re working have been the ones causing swimmers itch. There are a few places where the black snail I showed you is really common. That is easily distinguished from the others. But we don’t know how effective or long lasting removal of snails from a property will affect swimmer’s itch. That’s one of the things we’re going to discover this summer.
“We’re working with Oakland University. They have a way of counting cercariae in the water so we are going to sample in the areas where we are removing snails and we’re going to transport that sample to Oakland and they are going to analyze it. And we’re going to be able to analyze sections where we’ve removed snails and compare these with neighboring sections where we haven’t and if there’s a significant difference in cercariae count we’ll share that possibility. You know, the problem is that the shallows go out a long way, there are lots of snails, cercariae can drift in from non treated areas, so we’re not promising that as a fool proof method, but we’re thinking it may help. We also don’t pretend that that’s a solution for the lake. There are too many snails. But if 10 owners want to get together and have us teach them how to identify the snails and how to scoop, we’ll gladly teach people how to do it.”
Funding
According to Mr. Dennings, HLSIO has $105,000 in donations, $15,000 from HLPOA, and $23,000 committed by Higgins Lake Foundation on a reimbursement program. So they have reached $143,000 of the $265,000 first year budget. The HLF grant is for work only that is permitted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, i.e. the sacrifice of 20 birds, capture of up to 150 birds, and oiling of 40 eggs. Because of the Gerrish harassment and the inability to locate nesting cavities, SICON appears to have lost the opportunity to oil any eggs.
The Northpoint program is funded with $5,000 from Gerrish Township and $23,000 from the HLF. Some additional work is being done on a volunteer basis.
Reporting Swimmer’s Itch
The two teams have what appear to be totally separate ways of reporting cases of swimmer’s itch. The SICON link is http://www.swimmersitch.org/higginslake. This allows you to report Merganser sightings, location of nests, and cases of swimmers itch.
The link to the Gerrish Township reports is http://gerrishtownshipmarina.com/swimmers-itch/report-swimmers-itch/. This is designed to report cases of swimmers itch only and goes to Mr. Homola’s desk.
Scheduled Meetings and Presentations
Starting June 15 and continuing until July 27, the SICON team will be holding an "Open House" every Monday night from 6-8 pm to answer any simmer’s itch related questions. The public is encouraged to stop by and see first-hand what the SICON team is doing.
The “Open Houses” will take place at at the Dragon Fly House, 104 Webster Blvd. which is located on the corner of Webster Blvd. and West Pine Drive just north of the Gerrish Township Marina.
The SICON team will also be available for questions on two Saturday mornings, June 20 and July 11 from 9:00 to 11:00 am at the Lyon Township Hall, 7851 W Higgins Lake Drive.
Mr. Dennings is seeking to schedule meetings with various associations to update them on the program and to raise funds. He can be reached at 989-821-6711.
According to Mr. Homola, Luttenton from Northpoint will be at the Swimmers Itch Task Force meeting next week June 16th at 2pm at the Lyon Township hall. Sendek will be at the meeting in August.
The Divide
It is unfortunate to have the two highly skilled teams working at cross purposes without coordination beyond sharing of sacrificed birds. The conflict between the harassment program and the SICON’s bird control program, and the two uncoordinated reporting systems are examples. The leaders of the various organizations involved had a mechanism through the Swimmer’s Itch Task Force to do better. Instead the Gerrish Township and HLSIO organization have gone separate ways. The HLF has had to split its funds to help both. The state, which should be a player, has contributed nothing other than handing out permits. The HLSIO program, which will total $675,000 over three years, seems hardly sustainable with this divide. There may be ways to bridge the divide, but with the polarization that has occurred over the past three or so years, this will be a challenge.
For more on swimmer’s itch bology and the contracts, go to Swimmer’s Itch Control Under Way.
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