Great Lakes Fish Virus May Threaten US Aquaculture

In the US Great Lakes the The pathogen, viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS - that has killed tens of thousands of fish in recent years is spreading and poses a threat to inland fish farming, a US Agriculture Department official said on Monday.

The public first began hearing about the virus after a die-off of fish in Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the upper St. Lawrence River in May 2006 with dead fish washing up on beaches.

Scientists believe the VHS virus has been in the Great Lakes since 2003. Its origin is unknown but researchers think it may have come from bilge water released from one or more of the hundreds of ocean-going vessels plying the Lakes.

"We're not quite sure just how deadly to fish it's going to be yet," said John Dettmers, senior fishery biologist at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in Michigan. "There are 37 susceptible species so far that we are aware of."

Those species include lake whitefish, walleye and yellow perch, all among the top commercially fished species in the Great Lakes, Dettmers said.

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