Signs of VHS, from the Michigan DNR (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
A common treatment in fish hatcheries may slow – or even stop –
the spread of an invasive virus that’s killing fish across the Great Lakes.
Jonathan Brown has more:
Transcript
A common treatment in fish hatcheries may slow – or even stop –
the spread of an invasive virus that’s killing fish across the Great Lakes.
Jonathan Brown has more:
It’s called Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia. Humans can’t catch it, but it
causes internal bleeding in fish.
The virus is hurting the region’s multi-billion-dollar sport fishing industry.
Now, researchers are finding that adding iodine – a common practice in fish
hatcheries – could prevent the virus from spreading.
Steve LePan is a biologist for the state of New York. He says a study at
Cornell University found Walleye eggs treated with an iodine solution were
not infected with VHS.
“We can’t say for sure that it’s exclusively the iodine that kills it. There may
be other things we do to the eggs that also affect the virus, as well.”
Those ‘other’ treatments include bathing Walleye eggs in Tannic Acid for a
few minutes before incubation.
LePan says there’s still a lot to learn about VHS, but he’s cautiously
optimistic that hatcheries can breed fish uninfected by the disease.
For The Environment Report, I’m Jonathan Brown.