Deadly fish virus found in fish from Lake Winnebago

Deadly fish virus found in fish from Lake Winnebago

The Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Friday May 17 announced that fish collected in several Lake Winnebago locations preliminarily tested positive for viral hemorrhagic septicemia or VHS, a deadly fish virus that officials have suspected for years may have already appeared in Lake Michigan and Superior and the Mississippi River.

The fish virus has already been found in two drum, or sheepshead, collected on May 2 from Little Lake Butte des Morts, the DNR announced May 12. Dead fish were discovered in Lake Winnebago earlier. Since May 2, DNR has been receiving reports of hundreds of freshwater drum dying on Lake Winnebago, according to the state agency.

Little Lake Butte des Morts is in downstream from Lake Winnebago and separated by one dam and one functioning lock. The Lake Winnebago chain is home to Wisconsin’s unique sturgeon population. The finding of VHS in Little Lake Butte des Morts and dead fish in Lake Winnebago prompted state officials to immediately close the lock effective May 12 to prevent the fish virus from spreading to Lake Winnebago.

As fish from Lake Winnebago have been found infected with the fish virus, officials on Friday ordered re-opening of the Menasha lock because the closure does no longer help prevent the spreading of the fish virus.

The fish virus does not pose any risk to people who eat the infected fish. However, it is lethal to more than 25 fish species in Wisconsin Waters. State Officials worry that VHS could spread to many lakes in the state, potentially devastating fish populations and affecting the 2.3 billion fishery industry in the state.

The fish virus caused major fish kills in 2005 and 2006 in lakes St. Clair, Erie, Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and the virus was discovered in Lake Huron fish in February, according to Mike Staggs, Wisconsin’s fisheries director.

The latest discovery of the fish virus in some Wisconsin lakes does not come as a surprise to the officials who are aware that the risk is always there for the virus to spread. Because of this, the state Natural Resources Board already convened on April 7 to address the potential spread of VHS to fish in Wisconsin's inland waters.

At the meeting, the Board unanimously passed emergency rules prohibiting anglers and boasters from moving live fish and requiring that they drain their boats and live wells before leaving Wisconsin's Great Lakes waters, the Mississippi River and those waters' tributaries up to the first dam.

As the fish virus was found in fish from Lake Winnebago on Friday, the Broad extended emergency rules adopted on April 7 to include the Lake Winnebago watershed. The board's also extended the emergency rule statewide if VHS is found outside of the Lake Winnebago system.

Wisconsin has been already testing a wide range of fish in Lakes Michigan and Superior and the Mississippi River for the fish virus VHS since 2005. New monitoring procedures are being developed to test other water systems. The state also has suspended all stocking of fish, transfers of fish among hatches, collection of forage fish or eggs from the wild and all field fish transfers. And the DNR Secretary Scott Hassett has already appointed a VHS response team to develop recommendations as the situation progresses