Wisconsin Outbreak Spreads

The Associated Press reports that fish from Lake Winnebago, in Wisconsin, were testing positive in a virus test for a disease that causes fish to hemorrhage to death, according to state officials Friday.

The DNR held that initial test results in seven sheepshead indicated the fish were infected with viral septicemia. Bob Stark, of Fox River Navigational System Authority, said DNR warned him of the results on Friday. Stark maintains he was informed that the Menasha lock had been blocked to avert the further spread of the virus to Lake Winnebago.

Stark said, "It's a terrible thing that has happened."

Thursday, the state’s Natural Resources Board accepted an emergency ruling intended to prevent the contagion from spreading.

Fish Diseases Impact Profits

A key impediment facing aquaculture is the outbreak of disease, as fish for the harvest are usually cultivated in the stresses imposed by large populations which traditionally result in an elevated risk of bacterial or viral illness, as cited by many studies. In farmed catfish, said to suffer average losses exceeding $100 million annually, this is directly due to infection. One particularly important species in the U.S., the Channel catfish, account for well over 50% of the domestic aquaculture production; nevertheless, they are vulnerable to various damaging bacterial infections, not the least of which is enteric septicemia.