Fish Farmer Magazine: http://www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

USA: Genetics research sheds light on Great Lakes’ fish virus

24 January, 2008 -
A DEVASTATING virus that has killed thousands of fish in the Great Lakes over the past few years is different from other strains of the same virus found in Europe and the West Coast of the United States, according to new genetic research by the US Geological Survey.

The Great Lakes' strain of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is the only strain outside of Europe that has been associated with significant die-offs of freshwater fish species.

VHSV is a rhabdovirus that is the causative agent of one of the most dangerous viral diseases of fish, says Dr Jim Winton, a fisheries scientist at the USGS Western Fisheries Research Centre (WFRC) in Seattle. The virus belongs to a family of viruses that includes rabies. The disease causes internal bleeding in fish, but is not harmful to people.

Winton and co-authors Gael Kurath and William Batts recently authored a new USGS fact sheet that describes important genetic information about isolates of VHSV from the Great Lakes region. Other strains of the VHS virus are found in continental Europe, North Pacific Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea and North Sea.

"This Great Lakes strain appears to have an exceptionally broad host range," said Winton. "Significant die-offs have occurred in
muskellunge, freshwater drum, yellow perch, round goby, emerald shiners and gizzard shad."

Genetic research at the WFRC and by colleagues from Canada showed that this strain of the virus was probably introduced into the Great Lakes in the last five to 10 years, and that the fish die-offs occurring among different species and in different lakes should be considered as one large ongoing epidemic. The USGS genetic research also indicated that the Great Lakes' strain of the virus was not from Europe, where three other strains of the virus occur, but more likely had its origin among marine or estuarine fish of the Atlantic seaboard of North America. The strain is genetically most like samples of VHSV recovered during 2000-2004 from diseased fish in areas of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Great Lakes' strain has now been isolated from more than 25 species of fish in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake St Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Saint Lawrence River and from inland lakes in New York, Michigan and Wisconsin. Experts fear the disease could potentially spread from the Great Lakes into new populations of native fish in the 31 states of the Mississippi River basin. Also, if VHS virus is introduced into the aquaculture industry, it could lead to trade restrictions as well as direct
losses from the disease.

Regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada have already placed restrictions on the movement of fish or fish products that could pose a risk for the spread of VHS virus to regions outside of the known geographic range. These restrictions include requirements for viral examinations by standard methods.


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EVENTS

Boating course: A 10-week boating safety course, sponsored by the Wyandotte Power Squadron, will start Feb. 18 at the Copeland Center, 2306 4th St. The sessions will run from 7-9 p.m. each night. For information, call 734-699-4275 or 313-382-4709.

Winter triathlon: The Muskegon Sports Council presents its Winter Triathlon on Feb. 3 at the Winter Sports Complex in Muskegon State Park. The event, consisting of cross-country skiing, luge and speedskating, is geared toward novices. Instruction and practice run from 10 a.m. to noon. The luge clinic is mandatory; others are optional. The competitions run from noon to 3:30. The fee is $20 for entrants 13 and older, $15 for 12 and under, or $40 for a family. Age divisions start at 9-under and go to 60-older. Entry forms can be obtained by e-mailing MadMarkJ@aol.com. For information, call 231-828-4627.

DNR FISHING REPORT
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources advises that ice is building in the southern sections of the Lower Peninsula but most of the lakes are still not safe. Ice fishing continues around the rest of the state. Those traveling on the ice should fish with a partner, take an ice spud to test the ice, wear a personal flotation device, take a cell phone and be sure to tell someone where you are going and when you plan to return.

Source: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/SPORTS10/801240396/1058

Two British anglers waded waist deep into a river to land a 100-year-old monster fish weighing over 35 stone - after battling with it for over an hour.

Nick Calleya, 36, from Cubert in Cornwall and George Carstairs from Scotland landed the 500lb white Sturgeon while angling from a boat in the Fraser River in British Columbia in Canada.

The 10ft-long giant was snared using a rod and line with salmon eggs as bait.

Mr Calleya said: "We hooked on to it and it shot off.
"The boat was anchored so we quickly pulled it up and sped after it.
"George is quite a small guy so I had to grab him and hold him down because the fish was lifting him off his seat."
The pair grappled with the massive fish for over an hour, taking turns to hold the rod when their tired arms threatened to let their prey escape.
All the time, their fishing guide was at the controls of their jet boat trying to keep pace with the fish...

Click here for the entire article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=509098&in_page_id=1&in_page_id=1&expand=true#StartComments

ERIC SHARP
December 30, 2007
E-mails arrive daily warning of new efforts to open huge acreages of Western wilderness to gas and oil drilling, clear cut forests on mountains vulnerable to erosion, destroy major fish stocks in the ocean or pollute the skies and waters with mercury and greenhouse gasses.

Continuing threats to the places where we hunt, fish and camp illustrate that while things are better than 30 or 40 years ago, all we've really done is slow down the rate at which we are destroying our environment.

Sometimes efforts to turn it around get harder, as under the administration of President George W. Bush, perhaps the worst environmental knuckle dragger in living memory. But even under the better administrations, things have gotten worse, because our system encourages politicians to sell out to those who profit from environmental degradation.

There isn't enough money or public interest to solve many of the problems. But one thing we can do is to concentrate our efforts on ending the continued introduction of exotic species into the Great Lakes by ships coming in from the oceans.

On this one, the good guys are winning. States are passing stricter ballast control measures than the Environmental Protection Agency, which has sold out to the businesses that want saltwater ships to continue to come into the Great Lakes with little or no controls.

But we have hard evidence now about how much damage they cause. John Taylor at Grand Valley State has shown us how much more they cost our economy than they add to it.

And we know from the work of David Lodge at Notre Dame that not only is the threat from ballast water inside the ships greater than we thought, the growths on the outsides of ships may be an even more significant source of invaders.

Politicians are loath to afflict the well-connected, and most bureaucrats are too timid to upset the politicians. So it's imperative that we see that researchers, such as Taylor and Lodge, get the support they need to continue their studies.

It's that kind of solid economic and scientific data that allows the private groups that are the real protectors of our environment -- the National Wildlife Federations, Sierra Club, Audubon Society, American Lung Association and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership -- to do two things that are important.

One is to sue bad guys and the government when necessary. The other is to make the public aware of failures of government, because politicians won't bite the hand that fills their campaign coffers unless they are afraid of losing races.

We will also need to protect our lakes from envious drought-ridden states within a very few years. Only days ago, a federal judge imposed new restrictions on the millions of people who use Colorado River water for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes. So much water has been taken out of that river that it no longer reaches the sea at its mouth in Mexico. What was once one of the richest river deltas in North America for wildlife production is now cracked, dried mud for much of the year.

So while it won't hurt to make the usual New Year's resolutions about losing weight and stopping smoking, why don't we all add this one: 2008 will be the year in which we see the Great Lakes provided with meaningful and effective protection at all levels of government.

Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com.

Monday, January 7, 2008
A nation's growing thirst threatens a Great Lakes water war
Lawmakers battle to protect the region's key resource
Jim Lynch / The Detroit News

As drought-plagued states cast a jealous eye toward Michigan's abundant supply of freshwater, local lawmakers are scrambling -- unsuccessfully so far -- to fend off efforts to siphon from the Great Lakes.

A regional effort to enact legislation giving the eight Great Lakes states more control over water diversion is languishing in several states, with only two -- Minnesota and Illinois -- giving full approval so far.

Committees in both the Michigan House and Senate have passed versions of the compact, and officials hope a unified version will be on the governor's desk before the end of January.

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But delays in legal protection for the Great Lakes states could prove costly, especially as the waterways sink to all-time lows set in 1965.

Among the recent threats:

• In October, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson of New Mexico created an uproar when he described Wisconsin as being "awash in water" and called for a "national water policy." He later softened his remarks, but the comment triggered a national debate that cast more scrutiny on the Great Lakes.

• A Georgia congressman has proposed a national water commission that would put the federal government in charge of Great Lakes water, an idea that Michigan lawmakers oppose.

• Experts say the 2010 U.S. census recalculation could shift political power out of some of the Midwest states such as Michigan to water-hungry states in the South and West, making it harder for the Great Lakes to keep its water here.

It's a scenario that worries some Michigan residents.

"I don't think we ought to be sending our water to anybody," said Paul Sapp, a 72-year-old Mecosta resident who said he's seen local water levels drop due to withdrawals from the Muskegon River for a bottled water plant. "They all moved down (to the Southeast and Southwest) to stay warm. If they're thirsty, they can move back."
Water levels already low

Much of the talk of diversion centers on increasing the outflow of water from Lake Michigan through the Chicago River to the Mississippi.

A study conducted decades ago examined the possibility of a pipe network from the western side of Lake Superior through the northern Great Plains, but the project was deemed too expensive.

Several of the Great Lakes are already in the midst of extended stretches of low levels.

Lake Superior's September average level was 1.6 inches lower than the previous record for the month set in 1926. Huron and Michigan are losing water three times faster than previously believed, according to a study by a Canadian homeowners group.

Lakes Michigan and Huron declined by their usual 2 inches in December and now sit a whopping 26 and 13 inches, respectively, below the Jan. 1 level of last year. Experts think it's possible both lakes could beat their all-time record lows, set in March 1964, when the January monthly average level is figured at month's end.

Some experts believe new diversions will only worsen a bad situation. A report released last week says Lake Superior is holding its own and seems to be recovering from a drought that dropped the lake to alarming levels. It now sits 11 inches below the long-term average, but is 6 inches above the level of one year ago, according to the International Lake Superior Board of Control.

Some Michigan residents said they have reservations about sending water to other regions. But their feelings harden markedly when they think about the way water is used in some of those places.

One such example is the Waveyard water sports complex recently approved for a 125-acre property east of Phoenix. In a state where a lack of rainfall and increasing demand for water exacerbate a decade-long drought, the new park will use 100 million gallons of groundwater a year.

Noah Hall, a diversion expert for the National Wildlife Federation and an assistant law professor at Wayne State University, says projects like Waveyard indicate a need to change the way we think.

"It's a ridiculous proposal," Hall said. "It shows, first of all, that before we start talking about diverting water from the Great Lakes, there is a great deal we could be doing in terms of conservation and common sense."

Outside this region, some see the water in the Great Lakes as a national resource. That troubles U.S Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, who opposes attempts to create a national commission to oversee America's water issues. The commission proposal is being driven by U.S. Rep. John Linder, a Georgia Republican.

Linder has said he does not want to see the commission dictate policy to the Great Lakes states. But Miller acknowledged in an interview that "it's not secret that I view this effort with a lot of suspicion."

"I believe John Linder is sincere in that he's not interested in diversions," Miller said from her Washington, D.C., office. "But when you get a piece of legislation like this moving in this town, there are a lot of people who are looking to take it and run with it."

Legislatively, there are protections in place and pending designed to keep water from leaving the basin, but experts say they are not rock-solid assurances.

The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 gave governors in the eight Great Lakes states authority to veto diversions from the lakes.

But that might not be enough to ensure the water stays put, according to one expert. "There have always been legal and constitutional questions surrounding the veto power of the governors with that act," said David Naftzger, executive director of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.

In 2005, governors from each of the states in the region -- Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- drew up the Great Lakes Basin Water Resource Compact to prevent that scenario. If approved -- by the eight states and then the Congress -- it would prohibit Great Lakes water from being diverted outside the basin. But so far, not all of the legislatures have signed on.

And while a congressionally approved compact could technically still be overturned, Hall said doing so would require precedent-setting action.

"Congress has never retroactively revoked or rescinded an interstate water agreement," he said.

The Great Lakes Compact is generally considered the strongest legal tool the region's states have, and many experts believe each of the governments involved will pass it within the next few years. Yet time is of the essence.
Clout likely to diminish

Political clout in the Great Lakes states will likely be diminished following the 2010 census, when the region's population loss will translate into a smaller federal delegation.

"Right now the word on the street is that Michigan will definitely lose one seat (in the U.S. House of Representatives)," said Kurt Metzger, research director at United Way of Southeastern Michigan.

So who stands to gain political power?

"The areas of current water stress and shortage match up with the greatest population growth -- places like the Southeast and Southwest," Naftzger said. Southern states experiencing drought conditions, such as Georgia, Nevada and Arizona, will likely gain at least one seat each.

It's a scenario that has many in this region looking to expedite approval of the Great Lakes Compact.

"We've got to get this done now," Hall said. "We have a window of time here. By 2020, we could lose 30 or 40 (U.S. House) seats if the population trends continue."

You can reach Jim Lynch at (586) 468-0520 or jlynch@detnews.com.