Preservation methods to prevent spread of VHS fish disease

MADISON –Ice anglers now have answers to their questions about preserving dead fish for use as bait to comply with new rules aimed at preventing the spread of a new fish disease.

“If anglers choose to preserve their fish for later use as bait, these new information pieces describe the process,” says Mike Staggs, Wisconsin’s fisheries director. “Don’t freeze or refrigerate the fish but follow one of these preservation methods. “We believe that if you do these things to the dead bait it will be safe to use and you’ll be in compliance with the rules.”

VHS, short for viral hemorrhagic septicemia, is not a threat to humans but can cause fish to bleed to death and was diagnosed in several large fish kills in the lower Great Lakes. VHS was found in spring 2007 in a small number of fish from the Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago systems (pdf) but has not turned up elsewhere.

VHS rules effective statewide in November 2007 prohibit anglers from moving live fish and water away from any lake or river and limit the use of dead bait fish.

Following is more information directed to anglers who use dead bait fish to fish.

Using dead fish as bait

Rules prohibit using dead bait fish as bait unless they are going to be used on the water body they were harvested from or in Lake Michigan or Green Bay and their connected waters, or if the dead bait fish have been preserved by a method other than freezing or refrigeration.

It’s not illegal for bait dealers to sell frozen or refrigerated bait fish. The responsibility lies with anglers to make sure they are using dead bait fish that have been properly preserved to comply with the VHS rules. So, anglers who buy dead bait should take care to buy bait that won’t require freezing or refrigeration -- or they must preserve the bait themselves at home after buying it.

Anglers who catch smelt or other bait fish with the intent of using it later to fish must preserve those dead fish by methods other than freezing or refrigeration. The same holds true for anglers who, at the end of a day fishing, want to drain the water from their bait bucket and save leftover bait fish to be preserved for use at a later day.

Acceptable preservation methods for dead bait fish

“We know that freezing or refrigeration alone does not deactivate VHS,” says Andy Fayram, the DNR fish biologist monitoring international research on the disease and prevention methods.

So anglers who want to preserve dead fish for use as bait should not freeze or refrigerate the fish, but use one of the following preservation methods.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Staggs (608) 267-0796 or Andy Fayram (608) 266-5250

[EDITOR’S NOTE: a previous press release addressed the use of live bait].