FEDERAL ORDER - VIRAL HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA (VHS)

Topics concerning muskellunge and fisheries research, diseases, stocking and management.
Hamilton Reef
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:42 pm

Fish disease VHS found in Lake Huron
Is Lake Michigan next?

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news. ... y_id=34719

1-26-2007 By BRIAN MULHERIN Daily News Staff Writer
bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com 843-1122, ext. 348

Since its sister lake has been infected with the fish disease viral hemorrhagic septicemia, Lake Michigan is now under the microscope of state fisheries officials.

Lake Michigan is now classified as a “VHS Surveillance Management Area.”

Anglers are being asked to disinfect equipment with a bleach solution and are being asked not to move bait between the Great Lakes and inland lakes.

The Department of Natural Resources will step up sampling of walleye, whitefish and emerald shiners to monitor whether the disease has reached Lake Michigan.

Ludington Area Charterboat Association President Jim Fenner said he’s more concerned about the fish population at this point than he is about any perception of the fish being “diseased” by potential customers.

“Obviously we’re concerned because the disease kills fish, it’s not a risk to humans, we know that,” Fenner said.

Fenner said the disease being found in Lake Huron “suggests to me it’s just a short matter of time before they catch it in Lake Michigan.

“We know that we’ve been catching Lake Huron salmon in Lake Michigan over the last several years. It’s too early to tell what the implications are, I guess.”

Salmon anglers and Charter boat customers remember the bad, old days of salmon fishing after fish in Lake Michigan were stricken with bacterial kidney disease or BKD. Fenner said repeating the experience would be a nightmare.

“Just like the BKD in the early 1990s, the BKD cropped off the kings, so our king fishing went to heck for several years before we got a handle on the disease.

“I think the biologists are on top of it this time, more than they were with the BKD.”

Fenner said the source of most invasive species and exotic fish diseases is well-known and still largely uncontrolled.

VHS is a virus that causes disease in fish but does not pose any threat to public health, according to a press release from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announcing the spread of the virus to Lake Huron.

Lake Michigan is now classified as a “VHS Surveillance Management Area.”

Anglers are being asked to disinfect equipment with a bleach solution and are being asked not to move bait between the Great Lakes and inland lakes.

The Department of Natural Resources will step up sampling of walleye, whitefish and emerald shiners to monitor whether the disease has reached Lake Michigan.

Ludington Area Charterboat Association President Jim Fenner said he’s more concerned about the fish population at this point than he is about any perception of the fish being “diseased” by potential customers.

“Obviously we’re concerned because the disease kills fish, it’s not a risk to humans, we know that,” Fenner said.

Fenner said the disease being found in Lake Huron “suggests to me it’s just a short matter of time before they catch it in Lake Michigan.

“We know that we’ve been catching Lake Huron salmon in Lake Michigan over the last several years. It’s too early to tell what the implications are, I guess.”

Salmon anglers and Charter boat customers remember the bad, old days of salmon fishing after fish in Lake Michigan were stricken with bacterial kidney disease or BKD. Fenner said repeating the experience would be a nightmare.

“Just like the BKD in the early 1990s, the BKD cropped off the kings, so our king fishing went to heck for several years before we got a handle on the disease.

“I think the biologists are on top of it this time, more than they were with the BKD.”

Fenner said the source of most invasive species and exotic fish diseases is well-known and still largely uncontrolled.

“We have to find a way to get a handle on the foreign ships bringing these diseases into the great lakes or it’s going to destroy our water economy,” Fenner said.

Carter Koles, president of the Mason County Walleye Association, said he’s not sure what to think. His group raises walleye hatched from Muskegon River brood stock. The walleyes are moved to the Pere Marquette Township ponds by the DNR at a young age, then removed by DNR staffers and transported to lakes in the region when they reach about six inches in size.

If fish in Lake Michigan were to become infected with VHS, Muskegon River walleyes would almost certainly have the disease.

“If anybody raises fish, we will,” Koles said. “Our ponds are basically sterile. Unless they get the disease through the spawning run or birds bring it in through their feet — we don’t bring other fish into our pond, so it wouldn’t be present in our ponds.”

But Koles said the association is in the same boat as everyone else until more is known.

“It seems like it’s pretty serious,” Koles said. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do except sit and wait for the results.”

One glimmer of hope came from the DNR’s press release on the disease spreading — salmon being raised from a weir where VHS was found don’t seem to have VHS.

A number of Chinook salmon observed at the Swan River egg-take station last fall also showed signs of VHS infection, DNR Hatcheries Director Gary Whelan said in the release. A standard fish health inspection that is annually conducted by the DNR Fisheries Division on this key broodstock did document VHS in both female and male fish, including one fish exhibiting clinical signs of VHS. Standard methods for disinfecting the eggs were applied last fall at the egg-take station prior to transfer of the eggs to the state’s hatchery facilities. To date, all lots of Chinook salmon hatched from these eggs and being reared in DNR hatchery facilities have been tested and all are negative for VHS, which is attributable to the disinfection methods that have been employed at all the DNR’s egg-take stations for many years.

“This shows that our standard disinfection procedures, similar to those used on the West Coast where VHS has been found for a long time, were effective in protecting our hatcheries and the fish reared in those hatcheries,” Whelan said.

Hamilton Reef
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:56 pm

Fish-killing virus now in Lake Huron http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/ ... 6007.shtml

Hamilton Reef
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:41 am

FYI within the DNR Wildlife Resource Protection Division CFI Shannon VanPatten is sharing with Fisheries Division personnel the results of the Law Enforcement Division bait industry inspections. This information may prove helpful in tracking possible viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) contamination outbreaks. CFS VanPatten is working on the development of a new and improved wholesale and catch report form as well as a new form for minnow inspections.

Bryan Saenz

Post by Bryan Saenz » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:18 pm

Ok, I was thinking about this the other day, cause lots of people on here fish LSC..myself included, i know we're all suppose to wash off our equipment, boats, livewells, trailers, ect. Well what about certain lures that may have been used on LSC, or fishing line. Super lines can retain quite a bit of moisture. I would think that a virus could tuck itself away deep in a spool of braided line. So does everyone who fishes LSC use different rods/reels for that lake? and lures for that matter? Cause if not, isn't that the same as not washing your boat, by exposing that line that was in LSC to inland lakes? i don't say this to be a punk, i just would hate to have anything happen to our inland lake resources that have taken so long to get started or even established. This upcoming season we all need to recognize what we need to do to keep our lakes safe from any kind of die off that could be prevented.

Hamilton Reef
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:45 pm

FYI from Tom MCWA board member, VHS news from my MCWA board.

Note this comment in the article: There currently isn’t a procedure for disinfecting eggs from other gamefish, but Smith has tasked people from fisheries to come up with one.

Our muskie fishers understand this will include the GLS muskie to hopefully put the GLS back on track to be reintroduce to the L. Michigan basin and West Michigan drown-river mouth lakes.

VHS testing of Muskegon River walleyes not done yet

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news. ... y_id=34730

1-26-2007 By BRIAN MULHERIN Daily News Staff Writer
bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com 843-1122, ext. 348

Testing of walleyes for viral hemorrhagic septicemia is under way in Michigan, but results aren’t in yet, DNR Fisheries Supervisor Kelley Smith said Friday.

The disease was discovered in fish from Lake Huron earlier this week. Lake Michigan, which is connected to Lake Huron is currently under surveillance for the disease.

The Muskegon River testing is important to Mason County because walleyes that the Mason County Walleye Association raises come from that river system, which is connected to Lake Michigan.

Smith said testing can take as long as 12 weeks but he expects results will be available soon.

“I sent word to Michigan State that they were to expedite those as the number one priority,” Smith said. “The other problem is we didn’t get a big enough sample. The protocol requires 30 or 60 fish and we only got 14. It’s not a great time of year for finding them.”

Smith said there is hope for hatcheries that raise fish, in spite of the news that fish in Lake Huron have been exposed to VHS.

“The good thing about this virus — if there’s anything good — is it tends to sit on the outside of the eggs unlike (bacterial kidney disease) which gets inside the eggs. “Because it’s on the outside, we can disinfect and it appears to be successful.”

Smith said the salmonid stocking programs are likely to continue because disinfection has been successful.

There currently isn’t a procedure for disinfecting eggs from other gamefish, but Smith has tasked people from fisheries to come up with one.

“We know we can do it with salmonids and we just don’t know about walleyes,” Smith said.

Hamilton Reef
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:46 pm

VHS already may be in Lake Michigan

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/i ... xml&coll=6

02/02/07 By Howard Meyerson Press Outdoors Editor hmeyerson@grpress.com

Anglers got bad news this week. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia has turned up in northern Lake Huron. It is knocking on Lake Michigan's door.

Just two and half months ago, in this column, Department of Natural Resources fisheries experts said VHS had yet to work its way into Lake Huron. They predicted it might be two to four years away from Lake Michigan waters. At that time it was a problem in lakes Ontario, Erie and St. Clair, along with the St. Clair and Detroit rivers.

But now we find out that just isn't so. At least not quite. Two to four years may be accurate, but the starting point has shifted.

Clock was reset

DNR officials say the clock reset once old, frozen fish samples were rechecked. They did this last year.

The samples were from a 2003 Lake St. Clair musky kill where another disease was obvious. VHS wasn't on the radar then -- at least not in the wild fish population.

State hatcheries have been testing for it for 20 years. But fish managers say there seemed little reason in 2003 to go beyond the obvious cause for the die-off.

VHS was known in the Pacific Northwest and in the Canadian Maritimes, but never had caused a big "mortality incident."

So the sample fish were frozen for further analysis later. Lake Huron samples from 2005 also had been frozen. They, too, were rechecked in 2006.

"What we found is that VHS was present in Lake St. Clair in 2003 and in Lake Huron in 2005," Kelly Smith, the DNR fisheries chief, said. "Go two to four years out and you are at 2007 for Lake Michigan.

"I'm guessing that it's already there."

Ramping up testing

You may have seen the story reporting that VHS was found in whitefish from Cheboygan, walleye from Thunder Bay and chinook salmon from the Swan River egg-take station near Rogers City.

As a result, the state is ramping up its testing program on lakes Huron and Michigan along with the St. Mary's River. Lake Superior is thought to be free of the disease.

Restrictions on moving Great Lakes fish for management purposes are being put in place. They will have to be VHS-free before they can be transported. Species like walleye and emerald shiners will be tested.

The shift in DNR staff effort is likely to have an impact on other fisheries programs, Smith said. Inland lake surveys and other programs will get less attention.

VHS has been called the Ebola of fish diseases. It causes severe hemorrhaging, which kills the fish. Fish-disease experts say there is no cure. Once it's here, you only can try to manage it.

How it got here is unknown. The best guess is in ballast water from an ocean-going vessel.

While deadly for fish, it does not affect humans.

"It's a coldwater critter," said Smith. "We are too warm for it to live in our bodies.

"Our best-case scenario is that the disease turns out to be like BKD and bass virus, where it kills a few fish and we learn to manage it while the fish build immunity."

But Smith said the disease is killing more fish here than in reported incidents in the Pacific or Atlantic oceans. Why is unknown.

At the same time, he suggests perspective is needed.

"The musky die-off in Lake St. Clair looked bad, but when we did the estimate, it was only four to five percent of the population. It was not significant enough to affect the population.

"We lose gazillions of fish every year (from a variety of causes)."

In other words, the remaining musky population has more than enough spawning capacity to fully saturate the habitat.

What is of larger concern is the possibility that anglers will move the disease to inland waters. That, Smith said, is a huge concern.

Bait that comes in from out of state has to be tested and free of VHS, but there are no rules that regulate how bait moves around in-state.

Anglers legally can collect minnows and then take them somewhere else. They may use them as bait or sell them. Smith believes the time may have come for some rules.

"The thing we are most nervous about and hope anglers will do for us, is use minnows only on the same waters where they got them and when they're done, return them there," Smith said. "Release them or bury them, but don't take them to other water bodies. Period.

"If someone is fishing through the ice they probably bought them at a bait shop and there isn't much we can do. But we're asking them to dispose of the ones they don't use, just not in the lake.

"You can run a sample of 60 fish and have only one come up positive. If that one is still in the bucket, we'd rather not see it released."

Smith's staff is meeting with the bait industry to see if there is another answer other than new regulations. But he expects that new rules are likely to go to the Natural Resources Commission in April or May if no agreement is found.

Anglers, he said, should not have a problem in the short run.

"Initially, I don't think we will see any shortage of bait. Everything is already in the pipeline," Smith said. "We're going to look at several options for rules from banning the removal of bait fish from certain waters to requiring that they stay in the same water."

The DNR will ask anglers to be conscious about disinfecting boats, trailers, livewells and bilges. The virus can be killed with a bleach-and-water solution or by letting areas dry out. But a boat in the water for long periods can harbor all kinds of problems in the growth on its bottom.

"Mostly we're concerned about moving fish, like someone holding walleye from the Detroit River that sheds the virus in their livewell," Smith said.

For Lake Michigan region anglers, the future is now.

Hamilton Reef
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:06 pm

Discovery of VHS may lead to addressing ballast water issue

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/statewide ... xml&coll=1

02/17/07 by Bob Gwizdz (517) 487-8888 ext. 237 bgwizdz@boothnewspapers.com

Perhaps it is true that every cloud has a silver lining. State fisheries officials say one of the darkest clouds ever to hover over our natural resources -- the discovery of widespread Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) in Great Lakes waters -- has opened the door to discussions for finally dealing with ballast water from ships entering the Great Lakes.

Ballast water from ocean-going vessels is the most likely culprit spreading non-native species into the Great Lakes. Exotic mussels, fishes and small crustaceans that have become established in the Great Lakes almost certainly came from ballast water.

That is the likely source of VHS as well. Fisheries officials say VHS, which was originally a marine virus, most likely wound up in the Great Lakes from ballast water from the Canadian Maritime provinces. VHS was implicated in the large die-off of Lake St. Clair and Detroit River muskies last spring and has caused a number of other mortalities. State officials say VHS has been identified as far north as Cheboygan in Lake Huron and they expect the disease to reach Lake Michigan shortly -- if it isn't already there.

VHS causes fish to bleed out. It has been found in 17 species, has caused mortalities of drum and yellow perch in Lake Erie and walleye and whitefish in Lake Huron.

Last fall, a chinook salmon that returned to the weir at Swan Creek tested positive for VHS. Fisheries officials think it is only a matter of time before the disease finds its way inland. (It has already been detected inland in New York, where it has caused walleye mortality.)

But state fisheries chief Kelley Smith says interest in dealing with ballast water is starting to come from outside of natural resources agencies. Smith said the DNR has been approached by the Lake Carriers Association to discuss the situation, has been alerted to proposed hearings by a U.S. congressman, has heard from the Coast Guard about the issue, and has seen the Great Lakes Commission take a position favoring the development of a policy on regional control.

"Suddenly, we're starting to see significant movement on a variety of fronts toward meaningful control," Smith said.

Although some have gone so far as to propose closing the St. Lawrence Seaway to incoming shipping, Smith's not going there.

"No one's trying to shut down shipping," he said. "It's not going to happen.

"If this triggers movement that ultimately prevents future diseases from coming in in ballast, it might be a helluva return on investment."

VHS is not an especially hardy disease, said DNR fisheries biologist Gary Whelan. The virus, when isolated, can be killed in a number of ways and eggs taken from fish for use in the hatchery system can be disinfected. But there's no known way to treat it in the wild and if it gets in the hatchery system, it could have huge ramifications.

Similarly, it could have a huge impact on the bait industry, which often captures minnows in the Great Lakes.

Although some may suggest that dealing with ballast water now is akin to closing the barn door after the horse has escaped, Smith maintains that every time the DNR finds an exotic and begins a strategy to combat it, something new shows up and complicates the equation.

"We've been dealing with these things for years," he said. "You get somewhere and, wham, the whole system's changed.

"Do we get the door shut soon enough that, one, we can deal with what's here finally, and, two, to prevent something even worse from getting here?

"The disease is here. It's going to effect a lot of species. It already has.

"I hate that crisis drives us into doing the right thing. But that's how it works."

Hamilton Reef
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Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:10 pm

Here is an example of what the Canadians are doing.

MNR close fish ladders

http://www.radioowensound.com/news.php?id=3932

03/28/07 Written by Jim Birchard

Ministry of Natural Resources officials doing everything they can to try and prevent the spread of a deadly fish virus to inland lakes and streams.

MNR official John Cooper says they have closed all fish ladders in Grey Bruce to stop spawning fish from moving upstream and potentially spreading the VHS virus.

Cooper says the virus has been detected in fish in Lake Huron so its possible infected fish could enter Gerogian Bay and then move upsream.

He says these restrictions will remain in place for the next 10 days while the MRN decides just what to do next.

Cooper says this virus is fairly new to this area and they have to do more studies to see if there is a way to keep it from spreading to other species of fish.

He says the spring spawning run is when the virus seems to spread because that is when the fish are close together and are under stress.

Cooper says fish laders on the Beaver River, the Saugeen River and at the Mill Dam have been closed to prevent the upstream movement of potentially infected fish.

Hamilton Reef
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
Location: Montague, MI on White River

Post by Hamilton Reef » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:42 am

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2007

Contacts: Kelley Smith 517-373-3375, Gary Whelan 517-373-6948 or Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014

Fish Disease Halts Walleye, Pike and Muskellunge Production and Stocking

The rapidly increasing distribution of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSv) in Michigan waters is forcing the Department of Natural Resources to place a one-year moratorium on walleye, northern pike, and muskellunge production and stocking to ensure the disease is not inadvertently spread by DNR activities, and to protect the state’s fish hatchery system.

“All of the DNR’s egg sources for walleye and one key source for northern pike are from Great Lakes waters that are, or are highly likely to be, infected with VHSv,” said Kelley Smith, chief of the DNR Fisheries Division. “Muskellunge egg sources, as well as two other sources for northern pike are located in very high risk waters, based on our understanding of the movement of bait fish around the state, as well as the amount of recreational and angler boat traffic between those waters and the Great Lakes.”

Smith said that currently it is not known whether eggs from these species of fish can be disinfected, adding that disease testing takes four to eight weeks, thus making it impossible to determine which egg sources are infected before moving the eggs into state hatcheries.

VHSv has already caused widespread fish mortalities in Lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario, and is an international reportable disease. In late 2006, the DNR determined it had spread into Lake Huron, as far north as Cheboygan and Rogers City. The disease entered Michigan waters from the Maritime Region of Canada, likely in the discharge of infected ballast water from cargo ships that took up ballast water in previously infected waters. The virus does not affect humans in any way.

“If VHSv would inadvertently infect a state fish hatchery, all of the fish at that facility would have to be destroyed and the hatcheries completely disinfected. The economic loss to our state would be between $40 and $60 million,” Smith said. “Since we only rear coolwater fish at Thompson and Wolf Lake State Fish Hatcheries, incubating potentially infected walleye, muskellunge and northern pike eggs at these two facilities would put at risk all of the state’s production of steelhead, 40 percent of the Chinook salmon and a number of other species.”

Prior to making the decision to place a moratorium on the production of these species, the DNR examined a range of options. They included:

* Developing isolation areas within existing hatcheries - it was determined that this cannot be done without substantial risk to other fish species in the hatcheries.

* Undertaking off-site rearing at other DNR facilities - this was rejected because sufficient water of the proper quality and temperature was not available and appropriate effluent treatment could not be done.

* Undertaking off-site rearing at other cooperator facilities - the DNR determined that the liability risk is too great, since contaminating a non-DNR facility with VHSv would result in substantial costs for the DNR to disinfect and clean up the facility.

* Obtaining fish from other agencies - this concept was investigated, but genetically compatible sources of walleye and northern pike are not available in the Great Lakes region. However, this may be an option for muskellunge, and is being pursued by the DNR.

* Obtaining eggs from other inland sources in Michigan - this option is not feasible because insufficient numbers of fish are available to meet the state’s egg-take needs, and the potential sources of eggs are at high risk of VHSv infection.

The DNR is taking the following steps to ensure that walleye, northern pike, and muskellunge production can resume in the future:

* Experiments will be conducted this spring on eggs collected from walleye and muskellunge populations in Lakes Erie and St. Clair that are likely infected with VHSv to determine if standard iodine disinfection techniques will work for coolwater fish. If the experiments demonstrate that the standard techniques are effective, then normal coolwater fish production will resume in 2008.

* Extensive VHSv surveillance and monitoring of current coolwater broodstock populations will be conducted to allow the DNR to determine the prevalence and intensity of infection in each broodstock population. These efforts should help to identify potential broodstock sources and rearing locations for the future.

* Determine other potential out-of-state sources for coolwater fish for future rearing options.

* Develop additional backup options to incubate and rear coolwater fish outside of the state’s hatchery system, including the development of fully contained mobile incubation and rearing facilities and the potential use of other off-site incubation and rearing facilities. The cost of additional mobile incubation facilities is approximately $22,500 per one million walleye fry.

“Implementation of these measures will require a substantial commitment of effort and dollars, at a cost that will greatly exceed what would be expended for coolwater fish rearing under normal circumstances,” Smith said. “There are no new dollars for such efforts, so we are reprioritizing our existing work plans and budget to ensure the work is accomplished prior to the 2008 coolwater fish production season. We have, however, requested emergency funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, but we do not yet know if and when these funds might be available to help us meet the threat posed by VHSv in the Great Lakes.”

For more information on VHSv, visit the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr and click on the Fishing section.

The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural resources for current and future generations.

Hamilton Reef
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Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
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Post by Hamilton Reef » Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:27 am

Note: “We tried; we were looking at a bunch of other places,” Whelan said. He added the state may try to bring in some muskies from another Midwestern state to plant this year, but that project remains up in the air, as does the prospect of raising a stock of Great Lakes-strain muskie.

Walleye planting off for this year
Concern over spread of VHS cited

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news. ... y_id=35600

04/04/07 JOE BOOMGAARD - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

It’s a safe bet that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources will not plant walleyes in Mason County this year.

The DNR announced Tuesday that it had placed a one-year moratorium on the stocking and production of walleye, northern pike and muskellunge in an effort to control the spread of the invasive disease Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, commonly known as VHS, and to protect the state’s hatchery system from contamination.

“All of the DNR’s egg sources for walleye and one key source for northern pike are from Great Lakes waters that are, or are highly likely to be, infected with VHS,” stated Kelley Smith, chief of the DNR Fisheries Division.

“If we collect eggs that are contaminated and plant infected fingerlings, we’re a vector for the infection,” said Gary Whelan, the DNR’s hatcheries manager. “There was a large risk factor beyond our tolerance for risk.”

For members of the Mason County Walleye Association, the moratorium means they will not rear walleye this year. The group was already gearing up for this year’s fish — by repairing pumps and starting plankton cultures — as the moratorium was announced.

“It’s unfortunate, but the DNR made the decision to suspend walleye rearing this year,” said Carter Koles, a director of the Mason County Walleye Association, a group that raises walleye for the DNR to plant. “It’s nobody’s fault. The DNR just wants to protect the fishery.

“We’re not mad, just disappointed.”

The group recognizes the importance of the DNR taking control in fighting the disease.

“The DNR needs to take whatever action they need to keep the disease from spreading,” said John Kreinbrink, one of the directors of the Mason County Walleye Association.

Kreinbrink said the full ramifications of not planting fish in area lakes — notably in Hamlin and Hackert lakes — will not be felt for a few years.

“I’m sure it will (have an effect) in a few years,” Kreinbrink said. “The walleyes take about three years to mature. A few years from now, this could have a significant impact. I hope it doesn’t affect tourism.”

The walleye rearing program sponsored by the Mason County Walleye Association generally gets eggs from adults collected from either Bay de Noc or the Muskegon River. Neither of those sites have tested positive, but Whelan added that none of the spawning populations have yet been tested for the disease.

Testing to determine if the eggs are disease-free takes four to eight weeks, and by that time the eggs would already be in the hatcheries, Whelan said. The agency simply couldn’t run the risk of compromising its hatchery systems, he said.

“If VHS would inadvertently infect a state fish hatchery, all of the fish at that facility would have to be destroyed and the hatcheries completely disinfected. The economic loss to our state would be between $40 and $60 million,” Smith said. “Since we only rear coolwater fish at Thompson and Wolf Lake State Fish Hatcheries, incubating potentially infected walleye, muskellunge and northern pike eggs at these two facilities would put at risk all of the state’s production of steelhead, 40 percent of the Chinook salmon and a number of other species.”

None of the hatcheries in the Great Lakes basin have been infected by VHS, a sign that fisheries officials are being proactive in fighting the disease, according to Whelan.

Alternatives considered inefficient

The DNR looked into five alternative plans (see sidebar) but settled with the moratorium after the other proposals were determined to be unfeasible.

Whelan said he’s looked into trying to find genetically similar walleyes in other states, including those that Michigan has supplied with broodstock, but none of the states had maintained pure genetic stocks.

“We tried; we were looking at a bunch of other places,” Whelan said. He added the state may try to bring in some muskies from another Midwestern state to plant this year, but that project remains up in the air, as does the prospect of raising a stock of Great Lakes-strain muskie.

“Implementation of these measures will require a substantial commitment of effort and dollars, at a cost that will greatly exceed what would be expended for coolwater fish rearing under normal circumstances,” Smith said. “There are no new dollars for such efforts, so we are reprioritizing our existing work plans and budget to ensure the work is accomplished prior to the 2008 coolwater fish production season.”

The DNR has requested emergency funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, but the agency hasn’t been informed if they will receive any money.

VHS not yet confirmed in Lakes Michigan, Superior

The disease entered Michigan waters from the Maritime Region of Canada, likely in the discharge of infected ballast water from cargo ships that took up ballast water in previously infected waters. The virus does not affect humans in any way, according to the DNR.

VHS has caused widespread fish mortalities in Lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario. It is known to infect 17 species of fish residing in the Great Lakes.

“We’re looking for it, but have not found it in Lake Michigan to date,” Whelan said, noting that it is probable fish in the lake are infected.

Whelan said the spread of the disease to Lake Superior could be prolonged for up to a decade if it is transmitted from fish to other fish. All bets are off if the disease is being spread by shipping traffic, he said.

“If fish are the vector, the Soo Locks are not an effective fish passage. If fish passage is the primary vector (for spreading the disease), it could take up to 10 years. If not, it could be very quickly.”

Duluth Harbor, the busiest port on the Great Lakes, has been and will continue to be tested for the disease, Whelan said.

Salmonid stocks safe for now

Whelan said VHS has no implications for the state’s steelhead, trout and salmon stocking programs.

“We are able to disinfect eggs from salmon, steelhead and trout,” Whelan said. “The level of risk for those species is much lower, and we’ve had a very successful program (of disinfection).”

Eggs from salmonid species are “double disinfected” with an iodine compound that was originally developed to control pathogens like bacterial kidney disease, the malady struck the fishery in the late 1980s and 1990s.

However, the DNR does not yet know if the same iodine treatment would work in coolwater fish, like those affected by the moratorium.

“We opted for keeping the eggs of coolwater species out of the hatchery because we don’t want to contaminate the hatcheries. There are way too many risks,” Whelan said.

Spawn from coolwater fish — especially walleyes — is extremely sticky, Whelan said. To keep the eggs loose to fertilize them, fisheries technicians introduce a de-clumping agent and stir the eggs with a feather. Whelan said he doesn’t know how or if the iodine compound would interact with the de-clumping agent and whether the iodine disinfectant would be effective within the same rigid standards they use to treat salmonid eggs.

Fisheries managers learned by accident that the iodine compound kills VHS. Without knowing it at the time, the DNR last fall collected infected Chinook salmon eggs at its Swan Creek weir near Rogers City in northeastern Michigan. The fish tested positive for VHS in tests performed after the season.

“We collected fish from the Swan Creek weir that were clinically infected,” Whelan said. “We found out in January. Those fish were the first from Lake Huron (to test positive).”

Multiple testing of the salmon fry — which were hatched from eggs treated with the iodine compound — revealed they were disease-free.

This current strain of VHS seems only to reside on the outside of salmonid eggs and does not penetrate to the corion, or core, where it would be much more difficult to treat, according to Whelan.

“It’s not hard to kill the virus outside of the fish,” Whelan said.

Whelan said it’s not known whether the strain of VHS in the Great Lakes is similar to other strains on the West Coast and in Europe. In the western United States where steelhead and Chinook salmon are native, those species of fish seem to be carriers of VHS, but the disease does not have adverse affects on the mature adults. On the other hand, Whelan said fish farms in Denmark have experienced “large mortalities” of rainbow trout.

DNR to test disinfection techniques

Whelan said the agency is being proactive in testing disinfection practices on coolwater species.

“This Thursday, we’re headed to the Huron River, taking (walleye) eggs on tributary we think will be infected so we can test the effectiveness of disinfection techniques,” Whelan said. “And we’re going to be testing muskies on Lake St. Clair, where the disease killed 2,000 to 4,000 fish last summer. But there’s the question of can we get infected fish (to test).

“We’re looking pretty hard, and we’ll know more by June or July.”

If the experiments demonstrate that the standard techniques are effective, then normal coolwater fish production will resume in 2008, according to a DNR press release.

“We’re looking at this as a one-year moratorium,” Whelan said. “We’re hopeful that will be the case, and we’ll be able to move on with our program.”

Whelan said the moratorium was not authorized “all in response to budgetary problems” the DNR is currently experiencing.

“We’re reallocating funds from existing programs,” Whelan said. “(The moratorium) is not going to save us any money. We’re using resources for surveillance and to determine our management action around the disease. We have enough resources, but it’s not what we wanted to do.”

Disease control orders coming

Whelan said anglers can expect “fairly detailed, broad disease control orders” to be put in place by the DNR in the coming weeks.

“It’s mostly common sense stuff to reinforce good behavior — don’t move around fish that are not certified disease-free, a lot of different things,” Whelan said. “But it’s a bit complex, and we’re working to simplify it.”

Since much of the focus seems to be on fish eggs, fishermen who use spawn could be affected.

Whelan didn’t say any specific regulation of the use or movement of spawn was being discussed, but asked anglers to use caution when using spawn.

“You should not use eggs from fish above the first barrier dams,” Whelan said. “I’m not going to worry about where fish can already get to, but you do not want to take those eggs inland. I know of guys that take eggs and go fish whitefish in Higgins Lake and Torch Lake. Those are not good practices.”

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Post by Hamilton Reef » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:57 pm

CO Reports 03/12/07 - 03/25/07

WILDLIFE RESOURCE PROTECTION SECTION
Commercial Fish Investigator (CFI) Shannon VanPatten and a detective from the Wildlife Resource Protection Unit inspected a Wisconsin bait dealer who was on his way back to Wisconsin. The officers found that he did not have a non-resident wholesale bait dealer's license, nor did he carry any paperwork regarding the load he had delivered. The subject had no viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) inspection certification for the emerald shiners on board the truck. Enforcement action was taken.

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Post by Hamilton Reef » Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:18 pm

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) Briefing Paper

February 26, 2007

General VHS Information

· What is VHS? VHS is viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a viral fish disease that has caused large scale mortalities in rainbow trout and turbot aquaculture operations in Europe and in Pacific herring and pilchard populations along the Pacific Coast of North America. The disease is caused by a rhabdovirus, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSv). This virus has a number of identified isolates (unique genetic types) grouped in four types; three from Europe and one from North America. Each appears to have unique effects with specific pathogenicity on certain species. The isolate recently found in the Great Lakes Basin here is most similar to the VHS strain previously isolated from the Atlantic Coast in Eastern North America and has been labeled Type (isolate) IVb.

VHSv is not a human pathogen. There are no concerns with respect to human health with this pathogen and it can not infect humans if they eat fish with the pathogen.

· Is VHS a reportable or emergency disease? VHS is a reportable animal disease that requires notification of Departments of Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA- APHIS), Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), and the OIE (International Organization for Animal Health). The listing by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission - Great Lakes Model Fish Health Program is in the process of being changed to a restricted disease, as it is now endemic to the Great Lakes. If this disease gets into a fish production facility or hatchery in Michigan, the facility will have to at least destroy any infected lots and may have destroy all fish, depending on the infected lot’s location in the hatchery, under new revisions to the Great Lakes Model Fish Health Program.

· What does it do to fish? VHSv Types I, II, III and IVa are known to cause mortalities in short periods of time, particularly in rainbow trout and turbot (Types I-III) and in marine herring species (Type IVa). The time of action is not known for Type IVb. The virus is more active in colder water (< 15 C) which is why mortalities are often seen in the spring. Fish exhibit hemorrhaging in the skin including large red patches, particularly on the sides and anterior portion of the head. However, infected fish will sometimes exhibit very minor external hemorrhaging (pin-point spots called petichia) or no external signs at all. Internally, all organs are often congested with multiple hemorrhages in the liver, spleen, and intestines. The swim bladders are also often extremely congested with hemorrhages, giving the otherwise transparent membrane a mottled appearance. The ultimate cause of death is usually internal organ failure, often the kidney, or the inability to osmoregulate which is the control and balance of chemical elements in the body versus the water. Sick fish will often appear listless, swim in circles, or hang just below the surface based on staff observations made this past spring.

· How is VHSv transmitted? VHSv can be transmitted by urine, feces and sexual fluids. Reservoirs include clinically ill and carrier fish that do not show signs of the infection. The virus can be found on the surface of the salmonid eggs during spawning of infected female broodstock (sometimes at very high levels) and is capable of persisting for a sufficient time period to result in vertical (actually egg?associated) transmission between generations (adult to progeny). It is also likely to enter the body through the gills or through wounds, although oral transmission is unlikely. Experiments showed that blood sucking parasitic arthropods and leeches can transmit the infection physically.

· Can fish or fish eggs be treated to reduce VHS transmission? In the western United States, salmon eggs are routinely surface disinfected with iodophor (an iodine compound) at or after water hardening to eliminate vertical (parent to egg) VHSv transmission. The DNR has for a number of years been routinely using similar disinfection methods at all of our salmon and steelhead egg take stations. There are no treatments at this time to stop horizontal (fish to fish) transmission.

VHS – Great Lakes Information

· Where has VHS been found within the Great Lakes basin? As of this date, the VHSv has been confirmed from the Lake Huron (Cheboygan, Rogers City and Alpena), St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie (all three basins), Niagara River, Lake Ontario (Bay of Quinte, Ontario and Rochester, NY area) and the St. Lawrence River.

· Has VHS Isolate IVb caused mortalities in the Great Lakes? In the eastern part of the Great Lakes Basin, a large scale mortality of freshwater drum occurred in 2005 in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario in Ontario. In the spring of 2006, large fish mortalities were observed in Lake St. Clair (Great Lakes muskellunge and yellow perch), St. Clair River (gizzard shad), Detroit River (Great Lakes muskellunge and gizzard shad), Lake Erie (west basin -freshwater drum and white bass, and central basin-yellow perch), Lake Ontario (round goby) and St. Lawrence River (Great Lakes muskellunge). A Lake Huron - Thunder Bay (lake whitefish and walleye) fish kill in the fall of 2006 was likely related to VHSv.

· When and how did VHS get here? The earliest confirmed report is 2003 in a Great Lakes muskellunge from Lake St. Clair so it is likely to have been introduced here in 2002 or 2003. The virus was also confirmed from spring 2005 freshwater drum samples from Lake Ontario (Bay of Quinte) and from a lake whitefish from Lake Huron (Cheboygan) from a fall 2005 sample. At the time of the two Michigan collections, the samples were initially classified have an unknown rhabdovirus which had been subsequently confirmed as VHSv Type IVb, in 2006 for the Lake St. Clair and 2007 for the Lake Huron sample.

It is not known exactly how this virus arrived in the Great Lakes nor is it known how long the virus has been here. Ballast water discharge is considered as a likely vector given its distribution in the lakes and the likely origin of the virus, the Maritime Provinces of Canada.

· Will VHS spread to the other Great Lakes and when? While the exact timing is impossible to determine, it is highly likely that the virus will be found in Lake Michigan in the next 1-2 years. This is based on the large scale fish movements, particularly Chinook salmon, between lakes Michigan and Huron. If fish continue to be the key movement vector, the virus will likely take a long time to get established in Lake Superior as fish movement through the Soo Locks is limited.

This situation could rapidly change if the key vector is ballast water exchange. Duluth Harbor in Western Lake Superior has the second highest ballast exchange rate in the Great Lakes and the Chicago area also has a very high ballast exchange rate. The virus could quickly be spread by this vector if the virus can remain alive for sufficient time to be transported by this method.

· Which species are affected or infected by VHSv Type IVb in the Great Lakes? VHSv has been confirmed in 16 coolwater and 3 coldwater species.

To date VHSv has been implicated as a mortality factor in large fish kills in freshwater drum (lakes Ontario and Erie), Great Lakes muskies (Lake St. Clair), round gobies (Lake Ontario), gizzard shad (St. Clair River), white bass (Lake Erie) and yellow perch (lakes Erie and Lake St. Clair).

VHSv has also been confirmed in smaller mortality events in lake whitefish (Lake Huron), walleye (Lake Huron), smallmouth bass (Lake St. Clair), black crappie (Lake St. Clair), and bluegill (Lake St. Clair).

A number of other species in other collections have been identified as carrying VHSv: Chinook salmon (Lake Huron); rock bass (Lake St. Clair); silver redhorse (Lake St. Clair); northern pike (Lake St. Clair); shorthead redhorse (Lake St. Clair); burbot (Lake Ontario) silver redhorse (Lake St. Clair); spottail shiners (Lake St. Clair); and emerald shiners (Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and the Niagara River). Mortalities have not been observed for any of these species.

· What are the likely risks to Great Lakes fish populations? Little is known about this particular isolate of the VHSv virus. The VHSv-European Types 1-3 isolates have caused large-scale mortalities in salmonid and turbot aquaculture facilities in Europe and mortalities have been documented in the Pacific Coast for herring species. Large mortalities from VHSv Type IVa have been documented in marine herring populations in and around Puget Sound, WA. Until the recent mortalities in the Great Lakes, the Type IVb isolate was not known to cause large disease scale outbreaks on the East Coast of North America except for one potential and unconfirmed instance in mummichogs from New Brunswick.

It is very unclear what the risk is to our fish stocks from this pathogen as susceptibility and virulence studies have not been done on this isolate. It does clearly cause large scale mortalities in susceptible fish populations. The potential outcomes range from being a short term 1-time mortality factor to a pathogen that causes annual mortalities that will need to be factored into fisheries management plans. It also appears that there are a wide range of potential carriers for the pathogen which will need to be factored into fisheries management options.

· What will be the pathogen management strategy in the Great Lakes? Since this pathogen can clearly cause large scale mortalities of valuable adult fish and it has a wide range of potential carriers, it is critical to make every attempt to contain the pathogen and not allow a rapid spread of the disease to all Great Lakes and inland waters. It should be noted that once a pathogen gets into a wild fish community, it is impossible to effectively eliminate it and control is highly unlikely. All potential human caused movement vectors will be evaluated and steps taken to reduce the potential spread of this pathogen.

· What additional information is needed on VHS Type IVb? Basic information is lacking on the specificity and virulence of this pathogen. It is also unknown how long this virus can survive in the environment outside of a fish host, which has implications on ballast water as a vector and methods to disinfect boats and other equipment. This and other basic pathogen information will take time to develop and will greatly inform management decisions. Until that information is available, precautionary principles will be employed to attempt contain this pathogen to its current distribution. Great Lakes resource agencies are taking every opportunity to collect information on the current distribution of the pathogen.

Additionally, VHSv is found in West Coast systems and management strategies used in those systems is being examined to determine which fish management and culture strategies are being employed in the Great Lakes region to prevent the spread of this pathogen.

· What can anglers and boaters do to help stop the spread of this pathogen? All of the recommended ways to prevent the movement of aquatic nuisance species (i.e. zebra mussels) will help prevent the spread of this pathogen. The use of a bleach solution (1 cup to 10 gallons) to disinfect and clean boats, bilges and gear is very effective in killing VHSv as is completely drying items in the sunlight for 4-6 hours. It is also critical not to move live fish between waterbodies, in particular baitfish, along with any water. These measures will help control the spread of this pathogen along with many other aquatic nuisance species.


By Gary E. Whelan
Fish Production Manager, MI DNR
517-373-6948
whelang@michigan.gov

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Post by Hamilton Reef » Fri May 11, 2007 9:26 am

State DNR considers new rules to combat fish virus

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 1003/METRO

05/11/07 Associated Press

Michigan regulators hoping to delay a killer virus' march across the Great Lakes are proposing tighter controls on moving some fish species between waterways for activities such as stocking ponds and selling live bait.

Rebecca Humphries, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, is expected to decide early next month whether to approve the rules, which would take effect June 28. The state Natural Resources Commission, which sets policy for the DNR, was briefed on the plan Thursday in Lansing.

"It's designed to slow the spread of various fish pathogens," said Gary Whelan, the DNR's fish production manager. "You really can't stop them, but we can slow them down."

The primary target is viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, a microscopic invader from Europe that has caused fish kills in lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and St. Clair, and in several rivers that link them. It doesn't harm people.

VHS is expected to soon make its way into Lake Michigan through natural movement of infected fish. State authorities hope to keep it out of Lake Superior and Michigan's inland lakes and streams as long as possible by closing off potential shortcuts while they develop a damage control strategy.

The rules would require commercial operators to get certification before transporting or selling live fish or fish eggs within Michigan or releasing them into public waterways. Applicants for certification would have to have the fish or eggs tested at a state-approved laboratory.

The requirement would pertain only to fish on a list of susceptible species. The DNR periodically would update its list, which now includes 32 species including such prized sport and commercial varieties as brown trout, chinook and coho salmon, walleye, whitefish and yellow perch.

Bait wholesalers and retailers would have to give customers a receipt stating where the fish or eggs were taken.
Another requirement: People who catch fish on the list of affected species could release them only into the water body from which they came.

In addition to general rules, the package has VHS-specific policies that differ among three management zones: areas where the pathogen is known to be present; areas where it's likely to show up in the near future; and areas believed free of the pathogen.

Whelan said one goal is to discourage amateur "bait bucket biologists" from catching fish in one waterway and releasing them in another to promote growth of the species.

"We'll go and treat a lake to be a trophy brook trout lake, and someone will put yellow perch in there," he said. "That practice needs to be curtailed."

VHS also could lurk inside water transported between lakes and streams -- even small volumes. Under the rules, people would have to empty water containers used to carry bait fish. Boaters would be required to drain live wells and bilges before leaving a waterway.

The DNR plans a campaign this summer urging sport anglers to disinfect boats and gear, spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said.

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Post by Hamilton Reef » Fri May 11, 2007 9:33 am


Hamilton Reef
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Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:43 am
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Post by Hamilton Reef » Thu May 17, 2007 7:22 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2007

CONTACT: Tammy Newcomb 517-373-3960, Gary Whelan 517-373-6948 or Richard Morscheck 517-373-9265

Fish Disease Discovered in Budd Lake, Clare County

Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials today confirmed the presence of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) in an inland lake in Michigan.

Budd Lake, a 175-acre lake in central Clare County, experienced a very large die-off of fish beginning April 30 that included black crappie, bluegill and muskellunge. DNR biologists responded quickly to the lake to determine the cause of the die-off. Potential natural and human-induced causes for the die-off were evaluated.

Fish collected from Budd Lake were taken to Michigan State University for testing. Because of the nature of the testing process for VHS, several weeks are required to obtain results. The DNR learned this week that the fish from Budd Lake were positive for VHS. Although the exact cause of the fish die-off is yet to be determined, this is the first time that the virus has been found in inland waters in Michigan.

“We are disappointed that the disease has spread to Budd Lake, and clearly we are very concerned about protecting our inland waters from further spread of this virus,” said DNR Fisheries Division Chief Kelley Smith.

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is known to cause large-scale mortalities in fish populations over short periods of time. Infected fish may exhibit hemorrhaging in the skin including large red patches, small pin-point spots of minor external hemorrhaging or no external signs at all. Sick fish often will appear listless, swim in circles or hang just below the surface.

VHS likely was introduced into the Great Lakes around 2002 via ships that entered the Great Lakes and discharged ballast water that contained the virus. The virus is now known to be distributed in Michigan’s waters of the Great Lakes from northern Lake Huron to Lake Erie.

Widespread mortalities in muskellunge and gizzard shad in Michigan waters of Lake St. Clair were observed in 2006 along with significant mortalities of yellow perch, white bass, freshwater drum and round gobies in lakes Erie and Ontario.

Internationally, VHS is a fish disease of concern and is a required reportable disease to the International Organization of Animal Health. In October 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service imposed interstate and international restrictions on the movement of fish to prevent the spread of VHS in the U.S.

As a result of this finding in Budd Lake, the DNR is modifying regulations proposed in the Fish Disease Control Order that was presented for information to the Natural Resources Commission May 10.

The Fish Disease Control Order identifies restrictions on the use of baitfish and fish eggs for different disease management areas. These regulations are necessary to protect the aquatic resources of the state, minimize the spread of disease to uninfected waters and protect the DNR’s hatchery system.

“It is unfortunate that we have to take the steps required under the order, but those steps are similar to what other Great Lakes States and the Province of Ontario are enacting in an attempt to slow the spread of VHS in the Great Lakes Basin,” Smith said. “The order, however, will not prevent anglers from fishing as usual anywhere in the state this summer.”

Major changes to the order include an expanded certification process for facilities that maintain baitfish or other live fish that are known to be susceptible to VHS, as well as additional restrictions on the use of baitfish or eggs by anglers when fishing.

DNR Director Rebecca Humphries is expected to take action on the order at the June 7 meeting of the Natural Resources Commission. The order can be reviewed online at www.michigan.gov/dnrfishing.

The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural resources for current and future generations.

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