The Glen Lake merganser trapping team has started to trap and remove merganser broods from North Lake Leelanau. The team trapped and removed a brood of 12 from the far north end of the lake and another brood of 8 near the Leland River. Unfortunately, the team missed a brood of 15 at the South end of Robinson’s Bay last Wednesday because of interference by an individual from shore.
This person entered the water just as the birds were approaching the net, and frightened the brood away. He said his action was justified because he does not agree that the trap and removal methodology is effective. We cannot emphasize enough that this methodology does work! LLLA and Glen Lake significantly reduced swimmers itch using this method in the early 1990s. Last year Higgins Lake reduced its swimmers itch parasite load to near zero using this method. Our contract team lost an entire morning because of the interference of this individual. Such interference also squanders LLLA’s scarce resources to combat swimmers itch. We ask that you do not interfere with on-going tapping activities, even if one does not agree with LLLA’s efforts. Several more broods have been sighted on North Lake, and it is imperative we remove them as quickly as possible. Chicks add disproportionately more parasites to the water compared to adult birds. Thank you for your cooperation.
LLLA recently issued its summer 2018 newsletter. We encouraged reporting of swimmers itch cases along with merganser sightings. We have received very few to date (which is great news). Please remember to go to lakeleelanau.org to make reports should you be unlucky enough to get swimmers itch.