Last year, “whirling disease” – a virus that can be deadly to fish – and Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus were found in trout at the Summerville Fish Hatchery in Chattooga County. The disease was also found in fish at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources fish hatchery in Buford, Georgia. The Georgia DNR says that while the diseases can be fatal for fish, it is not known to affect humans. The DNR gave an update on the disease recently.
At the March Georgia TU Council meeting Anthony Rayburn of the DNR Fisheries Division gave an update on how his department dealt with the problem.
The first thing that happened was getting rid of the eight hundred thousand fish that were at the hatcheries. The state had invested not only thousands of dollars in obtaining, growing, feeding the fish but disposing of the fish in a way that prevents the spread of disease was also costly. That was not enough. All the buildings, raceways, sidewalks, gates and equipment including trucks had to be totally sterilized to prevent possible re-contamination.
The DNR then contacted the National Fish Hatchery and purchased fish for this years’ stocking and also obtained eggs for growing fish for next years’ stocking. This supply of fish and eggs were tested several times to make sure that they were not contaminated. Tests are continuing on a regular basis. There are major costs involved with all that was done, but this expense is not being passed on to Georgia fishermen. A way for individuals to help offset these expenses is to buy a trout license plate for your vehicle because part of the money goes directly to the DNR. Anthony stated that the fish now in the hatcheries have great appetite and that most of the 650,000 fish to be stocked this year will be nine to ten inch fish.
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