Her efficiency critiques for the final 12 months had been glowing, so the letter made no sense. “It’s not an actual clarification,” she mentioned.

The USFWS layoffs won’t have an effect on the ocean lamprey management program in Canada, McClinchey mentioned. “The Canadian authorities has assured us that the cash from Canada will proceed to be there and we’re on observe to ship a full program in Canadian waters,” he mentioned. “That’s nice, however this program works as a result of it’s border blind.”

In different phrases: Cuts to lamprey management in US waters are a menace to fish and fishermen in all places on the Nice Lakes.

Only a week in the past, the Nice Lakes Fishery Fee confronted a extra dire staffing state of affairs, because the USFWS knowledgeable administrators they’d even be unable to rent seasonal staff to unfold lampricide come April. Inside a couple of days, that hiring freeze was reversed, mentioned McClinchey.

This reversal offers him a little bit of hope. “That at the least tells us nobody is rooting for the lamprey,” he mentioned.

McClinchey is at the moment in DC for appropriation season, presenting the fee’s work to members of Congress and defending the company’s finances. It’s an annual journey, however this 12 months he’s additionally advocating for the reinstatement of laid-off lamprey management workers.

He’s optimistic. “It appears clear to me that it’s essential we protect this program, and to this point everybody we’ve encountered thinks that approach and are working to that finish,” he mentioned.

Reducing again this system isn’t actually on the desk for the fee. Even minor cuts to scope can be devastating for the fishery, he mentioned.

Even the previous USFWS worker from Marquette is remaining hopeful. “I nonetheless suppose that they’re going to scramble to make it occur,” she mentioned. “As a result of it’s not likely an possibility to simply cease treating for an entire season.”

This story initially appeared on Inside Climate News.