Scientists need your help

New virus unleashed in the Great Lakes

Geoff Peach, of the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation says a virus has been introduced into Lake Huron by foreign freighters and may have been the cause of the large die off of round goby in Point Clark this summer and asks for the public’s help.

He says that biologists are concerned that a newly discovered foreign virus is the latest threat to Great Lakes and is responsible for two large spring fish kills in Lake Erie, with concerns that the virus might make its way to Huron via the St. Clair River. It may also have been responsible for a goby die-off in the Point Clark area in June.

The hemorrhagic septicemia virus does not harm humans, but it did cause large kills of freshwater drum in Lake Erie’s western basin and yellow perch in the central basin in May. The virus causes anemia and hemorrhaging in gobies, muskellunge, freshwater drum, smallmouth bass, bullhead, yellow perch and crappie. Walleye are less affected.

Scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's disease lab at La Crosse, Wisconsin identified the virus, which first showed up in Lakes Ontario and St. Clair last year. The virus, common in Europe and Japan, is the latest in the long list of Great Lakes foreign invaders, from zebra mussels to gobies. It is speculated that the virus was brought into the Great Lakes system via ballast water, a common way that invasive species have been introduced into the lakes. It seems puzzling then that the Canadian federal government's new ballast regulations are no more rigorous than the old rules governing ballast water exchange, making the situation no better for the Great Lakes.

Hemorrhagic septicemia first appeared in the United States in spawning salmon in the Pacific Northwest in 1988. In 2005, it was found in muskellunge in Lake St. Clair and in freshwater drum from the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario.

The virus reproduces best in water between 4 and 16 degrees Celsius. That means spring and fall may be the key times when this virus could be expected to affect local fish populations.

If you are aware of a fish die-off in your beach area, contact the Coastal Centre (519-523-4478) as soon as possible and we will relay the information to the appropriate researchers and agencies. Scientists looking into this virus need fresh specimens for examination, so prompt communication will be important.

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