http://www.detnews.com/2004/outdoors/0405/02/d11-139891.htm
The above article is on Musky pox in Lake St. Clair. It’s important to try to avoid moving fish diseases around between different lakes and rivers. There was an excellent article in the latest FISHERIES magazine on the transfer of fish viruses between systems through baitfish use. (Note that I realize that Musky pox is not a virus; it is a bacterium, but some of the same principles apply.) It can’t be said too often – If you catch your own bait, WHETHER YOU USE IT LIVE OR DEAD, catch it and use it in the same or directly connected body of water. Don’t transport invasive species and diseases above dams or into new systems. Interestingly, the study found that farmed baitfish were pretty safe because of the culture conditions. But what was scary is that many baitfish that you can purchase are caught from the wild, especially in the North Central US, and including Wisconsin. For example, the SVC virus (Spring Viremia of Carp is what the acronym stands for, but this disease is not limited to carp or other invasives) has invaded central Wisconsin, and bait captured in that area can be shipped nearly anywhere. This is a problem. Capture of wild fish for bait sales should be outlawed, in my humble opinion, for a variety of reasons, but the introduction of invasive species and diseases is first and formost. Another thing that I had not thought of was virus transfer through frozen baitfish. Some marine viruses have been introduced into freshwater environments where they can find new hosts, through the transfer of frozen marine baitfish. I can buy frozen shad here at the local baitshops, and the lord only knows where that fish originated. Freezing does not kill viruses. I don’t really know about other methods of preservation.
