Home Page : Notices

Selected: Notices -- Archive: Notices

October 29, 2007 DNR Press release regarding prevention of spredding dangerous fish disease

DATE:		Oct. 24, 2007
SUBJECT:	NRB passes new emergency VHS rules, tables permanent ones
until December
Requirements for boaters and anglers to go statewide next week

	MADISON, Wis. с  The state Natural Resources Board on Wednesday
approved emergency rules that, as soon as next week, will require all
people boating and fishing in Wisconsin to take steps to prevent the
spread of a deadly, new fish disease. They tabled until December
action on permanent rules to prevent the spread of the fish disease,
viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS. 
	The emergency rule requires boaters and anglers, before they leave
any Wisconsin waterbody at the end of the day, to drain their boats
and make sure the fish they take away are dead, including bait
minnows. It allows the 90 registered bait dealers who harvest wild
bait to continue to do so by following the permit system in place
since the board established it in May 2007. They must apply for and
receive a free wild bait harvest permit from the Department of Natural
Resources.
	And, in a requirement reflecting concern that boaters were arriving
in Wisconsin from other states where VHS is present, the board made it
illegal for people to transport by land into Wisconsin any water in
livewells, boats or other equipment. The virus, which can be spread by
infected fish and by infected water, can survive in water for 14 days.
 	
	VHS is not a threat to people or pets but itнs a significant fish
health disease and can cause fish to bleed to death. VHS has
demonstrated in other countries and Great Lakes states the potential
to cause large fish kills, long-term reductions in wild fish
populations, and severe economic impacts.
	VHS was first detected in Wisconsin in fish from the Lake Winnebago
System in early May, triggering the board to expand to the Lake
Winnebago System emergency rules that prevented boaters and anglers
and bait harvesters from moving water and live fish away from any
waters where VHS had been detected, or any connected waters up to the
first barrier impassible to fish. The rules were to automatically go
statewide if any new waters turned up with fish infected with VHS. 
	 Since that time, VHS has not been detected beyond the Lake
Winnebago and Lake Michigan systems, despite testing of 107 groups of
wild fish as part of DNRнs VHS monitoring program, investigation of 18
fish kills, and examination and testing of more than 40 cases of fish
caught by anglers and brought to DNRнs attention because of sores on
the fish. 
	Since that time, DNR and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and
Consumer Protection have built up an integrated control program and
are better positioned to respond to VHS. 
	The emergency rules approved Wednesday will go into effect as soon
as they can be published by the Wisconsin State Journal, the state
newspaper of record, likely within the week. 
Under the emergency rules: Boaters and anglers:  
	May not leave the water with any live fish, including left
over minnows. There are limited exceptions to the rule for wild bait
harvest. 
	Must drain all water from bilges, ballast, live wells, bait
buckets and other containers when they leave.
	May not use dead fish, fish eggs, or fish parts for bait.
Exceptions: if they are fishing in Lake Michigan or Green Bay; if they
are fishing in the same water where the bait was collected; if it was
preserved by a method that does not require refrigeration or freezing,
or if the bait was bought live  from a bait dealer. 
	May not use or possess live fish or live fish eggs as bait
if obtained outside Wisconsin. Exceptions: bait will be used on the
Mississippi River мbetween the tracksо and if the bait was imported in
compliance with DATCP rules.
People who harvest wild bait for commercial sale:  
	The ban on harvesting minnows for commercial sale from
VHS-infected waters continues. 
	Harvesters must apply for a permit and specify which lake or
stream segment they will collect from. The free permits will be good
for 30 days, instead of just 14 days as under the emergency rules, and
can be combined with stocking and nonstandard gear permits for longer
duration. 
	Permit holders must keep records of their harvest and what
they did with the fish.
	Bait harvest must meet Department of Agriculture, Trade and
Consumer Protection fish health rules.
	May not commingle wild bait harvest and any fish from fish
farms.
	Harvesters are required to disinfect all of their gear. 

-30-

Archive of Past Notices