![]() ![]() One would think that a simple solution to this dilemma would be to find new sites that meet the DNR criteria where the parasite is not present. This may be a solution, but in the opinion of the local experts, there are likely “no new sites” to be found. Also, new discoveries have shown that relocated mergansers travel up to 20 miles once they are set free. ![]() The 2019 Swimmer’s Itch research has now confirmed that many of the relocation sites have been tested “positive” for the species of parasite that cycles through Common Mergansers! This is bad news for the Swimmer’s Itch control program because it likely means that relocating Glen Lake mergansers to relocation sites that already have the parasite will only increase-perhaps dramatically-the itch risk for swimmers near the relocation sites. This new discovery presents a new ethical dilemma for the GLA and other lake associations around the state that use live trapping strategies. Not a place where the DNR fisheries were planting fish.Site is free of the snail species that carries the parasite that cycles through Common Mergansers.It has been widely accepted by many Swimmer’s Itch scientists that once Common Mergansers (once thought to be the major player in Swimmer’s Itch on Glen Lake) were live trapped and ready for relocation, that the approved DNR relocation sites were “safe” places to set the trapped birds free. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approved relocation sites based on four principles: ![]()
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