Ice anglers urged to follow VHS rules

MADISON – With a new statewide poll showing that some anglers aren’t taking all needed steps to prevent spreading VHS fish disease, state fisheries officials are asking angler to redouble efforts year-round, including during winter when water temperatures are the coldest and the disease is most active in fish. Information on the poll (exit DNR) is available on the University of Wisconsin-Madison Web site.

“The good news from the Badger Poll results is that the vast majority of anglers and boaters took some steps to prevent the spread of VHS,” says Mike Staggs, Wisconsin’s fisheries director. “Our sampling in 2008 showed that VHS hadn’t spread beyond Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan, and that’s a great credit to everybody who followed the VHS rules. But the problem hasn’t gone away, and the survey results suggest that we can do better and we must do better if we want to protect Wisconsin’s great fishing.”

Additional analysis of the Badger Poll data by DNR fisheries scientists Andy Fayram and Joanna Griffin revealed that anglers and boaters in the Lake Winnebago area where VHS was first detected in Wisconsin fish did a better job complying with prevention steps than anglers and boaters anywhere else in the state.

Two-thirds of boaters and anglers polled in the 6th Congressional District, which encompasses Lake Winnebago, said they never moved live fish away from a lake or river, compared to 58.6 percent statewide. Eighty percent of respondents from this district said they rinsed off their boat and trailer compared to 56.8 percent statewide.

VHS was first detected in Wisconsin in fish from the Lake Winnebago System in early May 2007. Since then, it has not been detected beyond the Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan systems.

VHS, or viral hemorrhagic septicemia, is not a threat to people or pets but it’s a significant health fish health disease and can cause fish to bleed to death. VHS can infect 37 different species of fish, including game fish and panfish favorites including walleye, bluegill, trout and muskellunge.

The disease has demonstrated in other countries and Great Lakes states the potential to cause large fish kills, long-term reductions in wild fish populations, and severe economic impacts.

Key VHS rules aimed at protecting fish and fishing in Wisconsin include:

• Anglers may not transport any live fish or live fish eggs away from any state waters. There is an exception for minnows purchased from a Wisconsin bait dealer. These minnows may be transported away live and used again on the same water OR any other waters if no lake or river water, or other fish, were added to the container carrying the minnows.
  
• Anglers may not use dead fish, fish eggs, or fish parts as bait. There are three exceptions:
  

1. You may use dead fish, fish eggs, or fish parts as bait on any waters if they were preserved by a method that does not require freezing or refrigeration;
   
2. You may use unpreserved or just frozen dead fish, fish eggs or fish parts as bait on the water from which they were collected or on Lake Michigan or Green Bay (and connecting waters upstream to the first barrier impassible to fish);
   
3. Live minnows that die during a fishing trip may be used during that fishing trip (they may not be used on later trips unless you meet the two conditions above).

A full listing of permanent VHS rules approved earlier this year can be found online. Printed copies of “Minnows as Bait,” (pdf) a brochure explaining the rules are available in DNR service centers and regional offices, and DNR customer service representatives are available to answer questions about VHS rules in English, Hmong and Spanish seven days a week from 7 a.m. -10 p.m. Call Toll Free 1-888-WDNRINFo (1-888-936-7463) or open a chat session via the DNR Web site.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Staggs (608) 267-0796 or Tim Simonson (608) 266-5222