Contacts
Tracy Copeland 814-726-0890;
John Coll 570-726-6611;
Bill Archambault 413-253-8495
9/26/2005

Fish Virus Found at Allegheny National Fish Hatchery

Lake and brook trout at Allegheny National Fish Hatchery in Warren, Penn., have tested positive for the fish virus infectious pancreatic necrosis, or IPN. To eliminate the infection, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff will remove the entire population of fish and eggs and disinfect the hatchery, according to Hatchery Manager Tracy Copeland.

Copeland expects to remove and possibly destroy a large number of the fish and eggs. The hatchery now has 720,000 juvenile lake, brook and rainbow trout. The hatchery also has 2,500 lake trout broodstock, some as old as nine years, and 230,000 lake trout eggs. Fish from the hatchery are stocked in lakes Erie and Ontario and in and around Allegheny National Forest.

"We will work with our state partners as well as fish health experts to develop strategies to prevent re-infection," Copeland said.

IPN is highly contagious among trout and salmon species, in some cases causing up to 90 percent mortality in young fish. There is no cure or treatment for the disease. It does not affect humans, and people cannot contract the disease from handling or eating infected fish.

The virus may be passed from parent fish to offspring through the egg or from diseased fish to healthy fish. IPN may also be transmitted through bird feces. While the source of the infection at Allegheny NFH has not been isolated, there are several possible pathways of infection.

Like all federal fish hatcheries, the Allegheny hatchery undergoes strict fish health inspections annually. The November 2004 inspection showed no IPN, so the infection is presumed to be new in 2005.

The Service is conducting a risk assessment to determine the sources of the infection and the best means to treat it to protect the hatchery in future years. In addition, the Service is moving quickly to reestablish the lake trout program lost this year at Allegheny. The White River National Fish Hatchery in Essex Junction, Vt., is already raising lake trout to be stocked in 2007.

"While we're very disappointed to lose the fish we have spent so much time and funding to produce, we remain committed to producing high-quality, disease-free fish for Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in the future," said Copeland.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission classifies IPN as a restricted disease and prohibits the stocking of infected fish into the Great Lakes basin. Service policy considers IPN to be a pathogen of concern and works to limit the geographic range of the virus. These policies have driven the decision to depopulate Allegheny National Fish Hatchery.

Information about the Allegheny hatchery may be found at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/facts/Allegheny05.pdf

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

-FWS-

 

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