Deadly fish virus found in Lake Huron

[Spiel]

Deadly fish virus found in Lake Huron

by Jim Moodie / manitoulin.ca

manitoulin.ca

 

LAKE HURON-It's here.

 

Late last month, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources found viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in several types of fish from the Alpena, Rogers City and Cheboygan areas of the state-waters situated a mere 100 miles from the Island.

 

"It was found in Michigan by the Americans, because we're not looking for it," said Gord Miller, Ontario's environment commissioner, in an interview with the Expositor last week.

 

While it is hoped that fish will build up a natural resistance to the highly contagious bug, and that new Ministry and Natural Resources (MNR) regulations on the harvest and transfer of bait fish may slow its proliferation, there seems little hope of actually halting its progress. "It will continue to spread through the Great Lakes," said Mr. Miller darkly, adding that it could also "spill into the inland lakes."

 

Originally confined to salt water, VHS appeared in a new freshwater strain in 2005, as diagnosed by Guelph fish pathologist John Lumsden. At that time, it was identified as the culprit behind a massive die-off of freshwater drum in Lake Ontario.

 

Since then, over a dozen species have been found to be susceptible to the disease, which, as the 'hemorrhagic' part of its name suggests, kills fish in a most unpleasant way. They bleed to death.

 

While it remains unclear exactly how the virus arrived in our waters, the most likely explanation, said Mr. Miller, is bilge water from ocean-going freighters. Humans are not at risk of contracting VHS, but the list of fish that could incur high mortality rates is ever growing.

 

The VHS-infected fish studied by the Michigan DNR included chinook salmon, walleye and whitefish. The latter, a staple of Island commercial fishermen, hailed from the Cheboygan area and were initially collected in 2005 as part of a survey for bacterial kidney disease. A more recent analysis revealed they had actually died of VHS.

 

Apart from its proximity to Manitoulin and the North Channel, Cheboygan is also a scant 25 kilometres from the strait linking Huron to Lake Michigan, meaning another Great Lake will almost certainly find itself on the list of infected zones soon.

 

Following these latest finds, Michigan has reclassified its Lake Huron waters as a VHS Positive Management Area, joining Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River, the Detroit River and Lake Erie in this category. In conjunction with this, the state has issued a ban on the trap and transfer of live fish unless they have tested negative for VHS, and is urging anglers to disinfect their boats and cease transporting minnows from the Great Lakes to inland lakes.

 

Ontario announced similar VHS control strategies in early January which involved dividing the province into three zones-the infected zone, the buffer zone, and the virus-free zone-and outlawing all commercial harvesting and export of bait fish in the former, while buffer areas would be permitted to collect and use bait fish but not move them elsewhere.

 

At the time, only Lakes Ontario and Erie were considered infected zones, while Lake Huron fell into the buffer zone category. Although no announcement has yet come from the MNR regarding a reclassification, it is almost certain that, with the recent discovery of VHS along the Michigan shore of Lake Huron, our area will soon fall into the more strictly regulated category.

 

George Purvis of Purvis Brothers Fishery said that, "now that they've found it (in Lake Huron), they'll move the boundary up to the Sault locks." The longtime commercial fisherman, and member of the Ontario Commercial Fish Producers Association, isn't thrilled about the appearance of VHS in local waters, but neither is he surprised or particularly alarmed.

 

"We've known about this right from the start, and I'm not that concerned about it," he said. "The head of our association, who is a biologist, says we just have to let nature take its course. I think after a couple of years fish build up an immunity."

 

Mr. Purvis noted that the virus has obviously been in Lake Huron for some time already, since the samples collected in Michigan date to 2005, but his boats are still hauling in decent amounts of fish. "The whitefish haven't died yet," he said. "In our main fishing areas, we took our quota last year, so I'm not too concerned at this point."

 

That said, Mr. Purvis suspects that those who make their livelihoods from aquaculture and the bait business could incur significant losses. "The farmed fish could be in serious trouble compared to wild fish because if rainbows get it, it would go through the cages like wildfire," he said. The virus tends to impact fish that are stressed, he noted, and disease can travel very quickly among close-quartered farm stock.

 

"If the aquaculture people have brood stock or fry that are infected with VHS, they'll kill it all, like cattle in England," said Mr. Purvis.

 

Bait dealers, meanwhile, "are going to be put out of business," Mr. Purvis predicted, due to the crackdown on harvest and transfer of live bait. "It's gotten political, and they're jumping through the hoops now to keep (VHS) out of inland lakes."

 

The commercial fisherman also anticipates that fish hatcheries will soon encounter strict new policies geared to stemming the spread of the virus. "The MNR might insist those fish are tested before they're put in the lake, because you don't want to dump the virus right on top of the existing fish."

[Raf]

Here's the DNR Article.

-----------------------------

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 25, 2007

 

Contacts: Kelley Smith 517-373-3375, Gary Whelan 517-373-6948 or Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014

 

 

Department of Natural Resources Confirms Spread of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) in Great Lakes

 

 

Recent analyses of fish sampled from northern Lake Huron have confirmed the existence of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in lake whitefish, walleyes and Chinook salmon, Department of Natural Resources fisheries officials announced today. VHS is a virus that causes disease in fish but does not pose any threat to public health.

 

The analyses that were completed earlier this week establish that VHS has now been confirmed in lake whitefish samples from the Cheboygan area, in lake whitefish and walleye samples from the Thunder Bay area, and in Chinook salmon samples from the Swan River egg-take station near Rogers City.

 

"The continuing march of VHS through the waters of the Great Lakes is a major challenge to our agency and our management options," said DNR Director Rebecca A. Humphries. "These new discoveries are extremely unfortunate and further highlight the problems created by the constant introductions of new diseases from outside of the Great Lakes region, the speed with which they can spread, and the threat that such pathogens pose to our natural resources."

 

VHS was detected in lake whitefish from the Cheboygan area after re-analyzing samples collected in 2005 during a survey for bacterial kidney disease (BKD).

 

"It is not unusual for us to collect fish that have unknown viruses, which typically require a significant effort to properly identify," said Gary Whelan, fish production manager for the DNR. "Once we had indications of VHS in other samples of fish from Lake Huron, this sample was retrieved from storage and fully analyzed by Dr. Mohamed Faisal at Michigan State University."

 

Samples from the Thunder Bay area were collected last fall during a mortality event that included lake whitefish and walleyes.

 

"At the time, we suspected that the cause of the mortality might be related to VHS," said Kelley Smith, chief of the DNR Fisheries Division. "Because the fish were so badly decomposed, however, it is still not certain that VHS caused these fish to die since botulism was also a possible cause. But given the detection of VHS and the fact that the mortality occurred during the spawning season both implicate VHS as the probable cause of death of these fish."

 

A number of Chinook salmon observed at the Swan River egg-take station last fall also showed signs of VHS infection, Whelan said. A standard fish health inspection that is annually conducted by the DNR Fisheries Division on this key broodstock did document VHS in both female and male fish, including one fish exhibiting clinical signs of VHS. Standard methods for disinfecting the eggs were applied last fall at the egg-take station prior to transfer of the eggs to the state's hatchery facilities. To date, all lots of Chinook salmon hatched from these eggs and being reared in DNR hatchery facilities have been tested and all are negative for VHS, which is attributable to the disinfection methods that have been employed at all the DNR's egg-take stations for many years.

 

"This shows that our standard disinfection procedures, similar to those used on the West Coast where VHS has been found for a long time, were effective in protecting our hatcheries and the fish reared in those hatcheries," Whelan said.

 

DNR officials have been in contact with personnel in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, alerting them to the new confirmations of VHS in Lake Huron fish, and outlining the steps being taken by the DNR in response to this new information.

 

"In the continued battle to slow the spread of VHS throughout the Great Lakes, we must remain vigilant, take every precaution, and implement all options available to us," Smith said.

 

Those actions include:

 

* Reclassification of Michigan's waters of Lake Huron, including

Saginaw Bay, as a VHS Positive Management Area. In addition to Lake Huron, the management area encompasses the state's waters of the St.

Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and Lake Erie.

 

* Reclassification of Michigan's waters of the St. Marys River

from the Soo Locks to Lake Huron and all of Lake Michigan as a VHS Surveillance Management Area.

 

* Sampling efforts for several fish species, including walleyes,

emerald shiners and lake whitefish will be significantly increased in the new VHS Surveillance Management Area.

 

* Additional testing of all lots of Chinook salmon in the state's

hatchery facilities that originated from eggs collected at the Swan River weir will be conducted prior to stocking those fish in the state's waters.

 

* A prohibition on the trap and transfer of live fish that are

collected from the state's waters of the Great Lakes for management purposes unless the fish have tested negative for VHS.

 

* Increased efforts to inform anglers and others about the dangers

of VHS, especially to inland waters of the state. Anglers are asked not to move live fish between the Great Lakes and inland waters, particularly minnow species, and to use standard disinfection techniques for boats, live wells and other equipment. See www.michigan.gov/dnrfishing for more information on helping prevent the spread of disease and invasive species on the Great Lakes.

 

Citizens are encouraged to report sick fish or fish kills to their local DNR office or use the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr. Anglers should contact the DNR if they observe fish that exhibit any of the following signs: hemorrhaging in the skin, including large red patches particularly on the sides and anterior portion of the head; multiple hemorrhages on the liver, spleen, or intestines; or hemorrhages on the swim bladder that give the otherwise transparent organ a mottled appearance. This information will help DNR fisheries staff to track VHS and take appropriate management actions to help slow the spread of this virus.

 

Anglers and boaters can also help prevent the spread of VHS and other viruses or bacteria that cause disease in fish by not transferring fish between water bodies, and by thoroughly cleaning boats, trailers, nets, and other equipment when traveling between different lakes and streams.

The use of a light disinfectant such as a solution of one part chlorine bleach to 10 parts water (i.e., one gallon of bleach to 10 gallons of

water) to clean vessels and live wells is very effective against VHS and other viruses and bacteria that cause disease in fish. Soaking exposed items such as live wells, nets, anchors, and bait buckets in a light disinfectant for 30 minutes is also an effective method to prevent the spread of a wide range of aquatic nuisance species.

 

In 2005, VHS was detected for the first time in Great Lakes fish species in the US and Canada, including muskellunge in Michigan's waters of Lake St. Clair and freshwater drum in Lake Ontario. It is not known how VHS was transferred to the Great Lakes region or how long it has been in the waterways of the Great Lakes.

 

The DNR is committed to conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural resources for current and future generations

[TJQ]

WHAT??

 

"It was found in Michigan by the Americans, because we're not looking for it," said Gord Miller, Ontario's environment commissioner,

[Bernie]

can i swear?

[Hellfish]

Thats horrible, i didnt get the whole we werent looking for it comment neither. Yes it is okay to swear now>!>!>!>!>!>>!

[Whitefox]

Thats not good!!

[fishforfun]

This radio interview with John Cooper of the MNR is very interesting, pay close attention to his comments on Lake Nippissing.

 

http://gofishin.podoptimize.com/

[huntervasili]

Thats some scary news... Hopefully it can somehow be overcome

[muskymatt]

It was not only found in huron , but also in superior.

 

At the MCI BOD meeting in Ganon a biologist confirmed it in person, seems like the only thing to do is sit back and pray for the best.

 

It is going to run it's course and there is nothing we can do. It's here.

 

Matt

[FinS]

i think all this VHS is caused from the big boats which should be controlled Asap to help this problem

but we all know the goverment wouldnt let that happen

lets see where this goes Arggg

[OhioFisherman]

Dang we found a weapon of mass destruction? Really bad news for both sides of the G/Ls

[dwc67]

zebra mussels are in mindemoya why not this

[crusty]

There is hope.. At least to stop the big ships.

It turns out that the shipping lanes of the great lakes costs a fortune to keep running.

Last I heard it would be significantly cheaper to ship the goods over land, than maintain the seaway.

 

Too late for vhs, goobies, and zebras. But if we all yell loud enough mabye they will stop the freighters in montreal or halifax.

Mabye OFC should have a direct link to a e-petition to tell the gov't enough is enough