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Sea worthy
Incorporating a little imagination and a lot of Legos, Joseph Leistner through the power of interlocking plastic blocks has come up with a mental blueprint on how to improve water quality in the Great Lakes and beyond. Leistner is 9 years old, which means plenty of time – no less than a decade, at least – remains for his ideas to play out. As for Keith Leistner, Joseph’s father, the time is now.
Leistner, the surname in Whiteland-based Leistner Aquatics Services, Inc., recently returned from five days in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and, more specifically, the St. Mary’s River, the watery border that separates Canada and Michigan.
The St. Mary’s River, which produces more parasitic sea lampreys than all the Great Lakes tributaries combined, would be where Leistner would attempt to introduce a more effective method of controlling sea lampreys with the help of his trusted sidekick, a 25-foot-long, 103-inch-wide custom-outfitted boat designed to apply granular product over the surface of the water.
“Think of the way a farmer applies pesticides to a field,” explained Leistner. “And there is GPS guidance so you know exactly where you’re at in the field to apply the product in a very precise manner with basically 100-percent coverage.”
For those unfamiliar with sea lampreys, they can grow to be as long as 36 inches and are known to prey on a variety of fish. Lampreys possess suction-cup mouths and sharp tongues and teeth that rasp through a fish’s scales and skin. The fish eventually dies due to excessive blood loss or infection.
“Once they attach, they excrete some sort of liquid out of the fish and use that as the food source,” says Leistner. “Lampreys live 18 months and will destroy an average of 40 pounds of fish in that time.”
Leistner, whose business specializes in Lake Maintenance Vehicles able to take the application of algaecide and herbicides to levels wider, faster and more-accurate than the norm, sought to brainstorm a better way to control the sea lamprey problem than the archaic manner used previously.
“In August 2007, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission contacted us and said it was their turn to find new technologies to basically control the sea lamprey in the northern Great Lakes. Getting it to a manageable population, that’s kind of what they were looking for,” he said.
But if Leistner’s answer to the sea lamprey problem turns out to be the right one, it will help Leistner Aquatic Services grow and hire more employees. Currently the business includes four full-time and two part-time workers.
The aforementioned boat is now property of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and being utilized for application season, which typically runs from early June to the final days of August. Now and in the future, a whole lot of fish may have Keith Leistner and his co-horts to thank.
“For me this has been a personal acomplishment, but I may not even see the results of this in my lifetime. The reason I say that is when it comes to water, we don’t consider the same things we do with land. In aquatics we’re way behind,” he says. “But then again, it could take off.”
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