By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 19, 2008

CHICAGO -- A deadly fish virus has been found for the first time in southern Lake Michigan and an inland Ohio reservoir, spurring fears of major fish kills and the virus's possible migration to the Mississippi River.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources invoked emergency fishing regulations June 30 to stop the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), often described as "fish Ebola," which was found in round gobies and rock bass tested at a marina near the Wisconsin border in early June.

A few days earlier, the virus was detected in round gobies and yellow perch just outside Milwaukee. And weeks earlier, muskellunge in the Clear Fork Reservoir north of Columbus, Ohio, tested positive for the virus. That was the first time the virus was found in a waterway outside of the Great Lakes basin.

The virus attacks saltwater fish off the coasts of Europe, Japan and North America. It was first found in the Great Lakes in 2005. Officials say it was probably transported in the ballast water of the oceangoing freighters that enter the lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In 2005 and 2006, VHS caused major fish kills in Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, and it was found in northern Lake Michigan. State and federal officials, however, took immediate steps -- such as banning the transporting of fish and bait among lakes, and requiring the cleaning of boats and fishing equipment -- that limited the spread of the virus in 2007.

But this year's virus detection in Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio are of particular concern, as the virus was never before seen in those areas and all are routes to the Mississippi River, through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Ohio River. Officials worry that if VHS finds its way into the Mississippi, it will be carried by fish to other rivers and to hatcheries throughout the Midwest and much of the South.

"We're holding our breath, because we could see an outbreak," said Marc Gaden, Great Lakes Fishery Commission legislative liaison.

States have implemented their own rules in addition to federal regulations.

"Guys will go and fish Lake Michigan, and within a week they will be on another big lake," said Steve Robillard, Illinois Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist. "There's the chance of it getting in there and affecting walleye fisheries or other game fish."

VHS, which has no effect on human health, causes a fish's eyes, skin and gills to hemorrhage. The virus is spread through bodily fluids and can survive in the water for several weeks without a host.

"It ranges from disgusting bloody fish with their eyes popped out to fish with no signs of infection," Gaden said. "Fish swim around, they are in proximity to each other in lakes, just like a kid at a day-care center is more likely to get sick than a kid at home."

The Great Lakes variety of the virus appears to have come from the Atlantic Ocean.

"VHS, in general, is probably the most significant fish disease worldwide, and the Great Lakes strain is even more of a concern, because it seems to affect a wider range of species," said Ken Phillips, a microbiologist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish health lab in La Crosse, Wis.

Wisconsin officials fear that the virus could sabotage their decade-long efforts to stabilize the yellow perch population after a serious downturn in the 1990s.

Ohio officials are worried the Little Manistee River steelhead trout from Michigan, on which they depend to stock their hatcheries, could test positive for VHS, meaning they could not be imported.

Last spring, members of the Lake Carriers' Association, which transport iron ore, coal and limestone on the Great Lakes, adopted voluntary measures to try to prevent VHS transmission. These include inspecting the intake screens, which keep fish out of ballast tanks, yearly instead of every five years, and using pumps to discharge ballast, "so any live fish will be ground up into fish goo," in the words of association President Jim Weakley.

The administration's fiscal 2009 budget includes $2.53 million for VHS activities carried out by the Department of Agriculture, and the farm bill authorizes Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to consider VHS a high priority.

Many state natural resources officials say VHS outbreaks could have serious effects on commercial and sport fishing industries. But Chuck Pistis, state coordinator for the Michigan Sea Grant, thinks fears are overblown.

"The dire predictions made several years ago have not really showed up yet," he said. "It's better to be proactive and plan for it than be sorry, but there's still a lot of difference of opinion on whether the worst-case scenario of massive die-offs will take place or not. I could think of much bigger issues affecting the industry, like gas prices."