Environment DEC
From the January 2007 issue
Informational Meetings on Fish Virus Scheduled
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced the dates and sites for public informational meetings to be held about viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS). The virus is a pathogen of fish and does not pose any threat to public health.
Affected Fish and Waters
A new strain of VHS was discovered
last year in round goby in Lake
Ontario's Bay of Quinte
In fresh water, VHS had been associated primarily with trout and salmon, but a new strain was determined to be the cause of a kill of freshwater drum and round goby in Lake Ontario's Bay of Quinte (Ontario, Canada) and muskellunge in the Michigan waters of Lake St. Clair. This same strain of VHS has now been confirmed in a number of non-salmonid species in Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, the Niagara River, Lake Erie and Conesus Lake in New York State. It has been linked to kills of round goby in Lake Ontario and of muskellunge, burbot and round goby in the St. Lawrence River. It also has been linked to a die-off of walleye in Conesus Lake.
Federal and State Response
After the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a federal order prohibiting the importation of certain species of live fish from Ontario and Quebec and interstate movement of the same species from eight states bordering the Great Lakes, the APHIS issued an amendment allowing for movement of live fish under specific circumstances. Subsequent to those actions, DEC filed emergency regulations to help prevent the spread of VHS to additional waters within New York State State.
DEC Meetings and Rulemaking
At the public informational meetings, DEC staff will provide information on VHS, describe the federal and New York State actions taken and answer questions. Meeting attendees will have the opportunity to offer their thoughts, perspectives and viewpoints, but formal comments from the public will not be accepted at these meetings.
DEC also has proposed a permanent rulemaking that is available for public comment until January 22, 2007, and the draft is available on DEC's website. Please send written comments for DEC to: Shaun Keeler, NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4750.
