This is something every fisherman should be interested in hearing about. Since this is the first I have ever heard of this, I thought maybe some of you were in the same boat. This is disturbing. Those waters are beautiful and the fish are an intricate part of the whole ecosystem. This is one of the parks we are stressing as a great boating opportunity. I hope they succeed, but it makes one wonder how they can stop the infected fish from entering the upper lake.
Staff Reports-Cook County News-Herald, MN
Last updated: Thursday, February 07th, 2008
The four units of the National Park System on Lake Superior and the Grand Portage Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa are working to develop a plan to protect park and tribal fishery resources from the latest aquatic invasive that threatens native fish and ecosystems — viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS.
The four NPS units currently involved in the planning effort include Apostle Island National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, Grand Portage National Monument in Minnesota, and Isle Royale National Park and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan.
The Grand Portage Band joined this effort to protect traditional access of Ojibwe people to the fish species they have harvested through time and because of their shared management at the Grand Portage National Monument.
VHS is a deadly fish virus that was first detected in the lower Great Lakes in 2003 and continues to spread to additional locations each year, but has not yet been found in Lake Superior. While the virus does not affect humans, it is known to infect at least 25 species of freshwater fish, including many popular species for both commercial and recreational fishing and has been the cause of large fish kills in other parts of the Great Lakes.
It spreads between fish through urine, *** and reproductive fluids released into the water, and through the eating of other infected fish.
Known or suspected human vectors for spread of the disease include ballast water exchange, spread of infected water and fish parts by commercial and recreational boaters and the movement of infected fish or the use of infected bait for fishing.
The four parks contain some of the most productive fisheries in the Lake Superior basin, and, at Isle Royale, three phenotypes and possible several morphological variants of lake trout.
“These park resources and the visitor experience are at high risk of being significantly impacted by VHS,” said National Park Service Regional Fisheries Biologist Jay Glase.
Grand Portage National Monument superintendent Tim Cochrane states, “We will continue to work very closely with the Grand Portage Band, as well as other federal, state, and local agencies and people interested in stopping VHS from entering Lake Superior. We must all work together to keep it from the Big Lake and moving westward to inland lakes.”
Seth Moore, Fish and Wildlife Biologist from the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa agrees.
“The partnership between the Grand Portage Band and the National Park Service to prevent the spread of VHS is instrumental in protecting both natural resources and the Grand Portage people’s cultural reliance on Lake Superior fish,” he said.