justnorth posted on May 23, 2007 07:04 :: 1555 Views
To help contain the spread of a fish virus in Wisconsin that recently caused a fish kill on Lake Winnebago, people who harvest and sell minnows from the wild will soon need to carry a free bait harvest permit and keep records of their bait collection and sale.
Minnows are susceptible to the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, or VHS, which does not present a human health threat but which can kill a broad range of Wisconsin’s native fish. Having access to information about who collected minnows, where specifically they collected it and where it was sold will help fisheries officials trace new outbreaks of VHS, according to Mike Staggs, Department of Natural Resources fisheries director.
The records are not required to be supplied to DNR, only to be available if VHS is found in the waterbody in which wild bait was harvested.
“If VHS pops up in another water, it’s absolutely necessary that we have this information so we can assess whether the minnows are infected and where they’ve been distributed,” Staggs says.
The permit system applies to all registered bait dealers in Wisconsin who harvest any fish from the wild, anyone who possesses or controls more than 600 minnows at any one time and anyone who sells any minnows from the wild.
Permit application forms are being mailed out this week to 650 licensed bait dealers across Wisconsin, including an estimated 250 who harvest bait from the wild and sell it, and the form will be available on DNR’s Web site. People who return the completed application will automatically receive a free permit that they must carry while harvesting bait on a specific state water.
Harvesters will need a separate permit for each water they harvest, and the permits are good for two weeks, according to Ted Treska, the DNR fish biologist who will be handling the permit system.
A copy of the permits will be sent to the conservation warden and fish biologist in the area in which the harvester collects bait.
The wild bait harvest permit system was required last week by the state Natural Resources Board as part of emergency rules they approved in the wake of the discovery earlier this month of VHS in fish caught from Lake Winnebago and a connected water, Little Lake Butte des Morts. VHS appears to be the cause of a recent fish kill of drum, also known as sheepshead, on the southeastern side of Lake Winnebago, and fisheries officials believe the virus is almost certainly in Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and the Mississippi River. Those waters are connected to eastern Great Lakes that suffered fish kills in 2005 and 2006 caused by VHS.
The application forms will be found on the viral hemorrhagic septicemia page of the DNR Web site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Staggs (608) 267-0796; Ted Traska (608) 267-7659
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