Virus Spreads to More Fish & Waters

A disease that’s killing fish in the Great Lakes region is spreading;
and, as Richie Duchon reports, it’s infecting more and more species:

Transcript

A disease that’s killing fish in the Great Lakes region is spreading;
and, as Richie Duchon reports, it’s infecting more and more species:


The disease is called Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, or VHS. It weakens
fish immune systems, and they often die of organ failure and internal
bleeding.


Gary Whelan is with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He
says the disease is here to stay:


“We cannot stop the disease. That’s very unlikely. It will continue
to spread. But we certainly can try to keep it out of sensitive fish
populations and out of inland lakes to our best that we can.”


Whelan says that includes not moving fish or water from lake to lake.
Just last month, VHS was confirmed in two popular sport fish in Lake
Huron.


Whelan says the virus could make it to Lakes Michigan and Superior this
year.


For the Environment Report, I’m Richie Duchon.

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