Events

FREE EVENT!  GREAT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!
6:30 pm:  Come early to see and touch live sea lamprey before the movie!!!
Pick up brochures and fun goodies about lamprey and their control.  (Courtesy of Hammond Bay Biological Station)
7:00 pm:  The Fish Thief movie, followed by questions and answers with researchers from Hammond Bay Biological Station.

Film is 90 minutes long.

Sponsored by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the Black Lake Association, and Friends of the Onaway Library. Don’t miss The Fish Thief: A Great Lakes Mystery, a gripping documentary about the destructive effect of the invasive sea lamprey that nearly destroyed the Great Lakes fishery.

Come early to see the live sea lamprey, watch the movie, and stay to have all your questions about these invasive predators answered.

The Fish Thief, produced by SkyhoundMedia and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and narrated by Oscar winning actor J.K. Simmons, tells the dramatic story of the sea lampreys’ invasion in the 20^th century and the ongoing efforts to control and repair the damage done. These predators created an environmental crisis that almost completely wiped out lake trout, whitefish, and other key fish populations. The heavy destruction to the fishery destroyed jobs and businesses. It threatened local industries, small town economies, and indigenous populations in the United States and Canada. Natural resources and recreational fishing were permanently jeopardized.

The riveting story of the extraordinary cooperative efforts of international scientists, policy makers, and conservationists to save the Great Lakes is at the heart of the film. The fight to control the sea lamprey population and to repair, restore, and manage critical natural resources still requires massive ongoing effort. For those reasons alone, you’ll want to see it.

Locally, The Fish Thief holds great personal interest because it takes place here. Places that you know well, such as the Ocqueoc River and Falls, Bells Fishery in Cheboygan, and the historical Hammond Bay Biological Station, for example, are featured. People that you remember appear in images from the past.

The Fish Thief is 90 minutes long and will be followed by a brief question and answer session with Roger Bergstedt, a retired research fishery biologist specializing in lamprey research for 25 years at the Hammond Bay Biological Station, and Scott Miehls, a current Hammond Bay biologist with a contemporary perspective of cutting-edge sea lamprey control methods.

To watch the trailer and for more information about the film, see www.thefishthief.com