Another article about VHS in Simcoe

[kickingfrog]

http://www.simcoe.com/community/barrie/article/1282113

 

MNR mum on Barrie fish virus

 

Ministry forecasts spring fish deaths

 

 

BARRIE – It’s official: Lake Simcoe has a fish virus.

 

And many fish are likely doomed to die this spring, says a spokesperson for the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).

But questions are being raised after the ministry waited at least five months to announce it.

In June, several dead fish were seen in the lake and tested positive for Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS).

It affects fish like walleye, smallmouth bass, muskie and some small bait fish.

 

The virus is not transferable to humans or pets that may eat a contaminated fish, the MNR said, and the announcement doesn’t affect anglers who use live bait.

 

But it does affect people like Pefferlaw’s Dave Weaver, who harvests emerald shiner minnows from the lake.

The bulk of his business is north of Lake Simcoe, and now he won’t be able to sell his fish up there as the MNR tries to contain the virus to Lake Simcoe.

“I spent $40,000 putting fish away (this fall),” said Weaver.

And with Lake Simcoe not even frozen over yet, Weaver hasn’t had much luck selling to local tackle shops.

“Now I’ll have to move my fish to another area,” he said.But Weaver now has to let his customers down. “There’s stores in places like Pembrooke and Ottawa, if people had known in September there wasn’t going to be emerald shiners, they would’ve bought chubs and suckers to know their winter was going to be OK. “But if they don’t find out until Christmas, they can’t prepare for the following winter. It’s a kick in the pants.”

John Cooper, spokesperson for the MNR, defended the ministry’s decision to delay the announcement.

“It takes time to look at what the different options are and trying to map out an area around Lake Simcoe we’d consider potentially infected,” said Cooper.

He said baitfish licences are issued annually, so the province decided to set the new restrictions starting Jan. 1.

“In this area, there’s already an existing ban on movement of bait south of Lake Simcoe. They’re looking at adjusting their operations in the Lake Simcoe area and to the north.”

 

Cooper was asked why the ministry didn’t advise the media about the positive test results earlier, like the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care does with West Nile Virus testing of birds.

“The implications of finding a positive result affect so many people, we wanted to make sure whatever decision we make is as fair as possible,” said Cooper.

However, he said the province wouldn’t financially compensate people like Weaver, because it didn’t compensate Lake Ontario bait catchers when the virus was first found there in 2006.

 

What is Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS)?

 

* VHS is an infectious disease of fish.

* VHS disease outbreaks may happen at any time, but are most likely during the spring as temperatures fluctuate and fish are reproducing.

* The Great Lakes strain of the virus was discovered in 2005 in Lake Ontario

* VHS was additionally detected in Lake Simcoe.

* Fish carrying the VHS virus are safe to eat and to handle. As a precaution, do not harvest fish that appear sick, dying or dead.

* VHS can spread through the water, on infected fish, or with their body fluids.

* To slow the spread of VHS, the Ministry of Natural Resources has established two management areas in Ontario: the VHS Management Zone (established 2007) and the Lake Simcoe Management Zone (established 2011)

[outllaw]

Living in the l.s.clair region we dealt with that issue. sadly the goverment knew this years back. sticking their head in the sand wont make it go away though.as vhs is in l. erie and its commercially harvested,, thats when the real furor will begin.like i stated before imports suck.

[Dave Bailey]

* Fish carrying the VHS virus are safe to eat and to handle. As a precaution, do not harvest fish that appear sick, dying or dead.

 

Don't quite get that. If they're perfectly safe to handle I would encourage people to keep them, thus cutting down the chance of a sick fish transmitting the illness. Or am I missing something?

[Billy Bob]

We went through all this with Lake Erie.....NYS DEC made life miserable for all of us that have used Emerald Shiners for bait...a must have for Lake Erie perch fishing....then around June 1st 2011 they relaxed the bait rules after several years of lobbying for that to happen..