Experts: Great Lakes Virus Threatening Fish Populations
May 3, 2007 09:24 PM EDT
http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6468177&nav=menu41_2
(May 3, 2007) - - It's an environmental crisis in the making. Experts say an Ebola-style virus is killing off a wide variety of fish in the Great Lakes. Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg reports from the Great Lakes research station on Porter Avenue.
The viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) virus is deadly to fish but does not affect humans, but the economic impact of the vius is already being felt locally.
Bait fish like these shiners from the Niagara River used to be the "bread and butter" of local bait shops, but now a deadly virus in the Great Lakes is causing hemorraging in minnows and about 18 other species of fish.
Captain John Freidhoff of Buffalo State College's Great Lakes Center for Environmental Research and Education said, "Causes them to bleed out, and then they end up dying, and there have been fish kills across the Great Lakes by the hundreds."
Fishermen like John Miller are noticing some changes at the bait store.
Miller said, "Bait gets more pricey, because you have to buy certified bait now. You can't just stop at the bait store and get a ton of minnows for a couple of bucks now. It's pricey. I tried to buy some bait for the ice fishing season. I was really shocked. It emptied my wallet."
At the Big Catch Bait and Tackle shop on Niagara Street in Buffalo, the minnows come from Michigan, and have all been tested for the VHS virus.
Increasing cost is only one concern.
Andy Michalac of Big Catch Bait and Tackle said, "It's going to be harder for us to get these minnows. Eventually, probably another month or so, they might not be available at all to us."
Emergency DEC bait regulations now require fishermen to use bait only in the water where it is collected. There is no overland transport allowed of personally-collected bait.
Store-bought bait needs a receipt, that's only good for seven days, and store-bought salted minnows must remain in the commercial package.
The inconvenience may be a small price to pay in the attempt to stop the VHS virus from spreading.
Freidhoff said, "There will be less fish for the whole food chain. Less bait fish, less sun fish, which will move up to the walleye, and just change the whole dynamics of the food chain."
How did the virus get here?
Scientists believe it might have been brought to the Great Lakes by ocean-going vessels, emptying their ballast tanks
Distributed not for profit to those who have requested VHS information for educational and scientific purposes.
