Lake Michigan Infected
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia has been discovered in a Lake Michigan fish, increasing concern that the disease may spread throughout the Midwest.
The Wisconsin DNR announced the finding, the agency has already banned the movement of bilge and bait water and live bait from Lake Michigan and Superior, as well as the Mississippi River. Such restrictions are also in place for the Lake Winnebago chain, where the virus has killed hundreds of fish.
The positive test in Lake Michigan was in a brown trout that washed ashore near Algoma. Fisheries experts have suspected for months that the virus was present in Lake Michigan because a fish from Lake Huron tested positive for VHS earlier this year. The virus was found in sheepshead fish in the Lake Winnebago chain.
May 25, 2007 8:17 AM | Category: Fish, Lake Michigan