A deadly fish
disease that has been spreading across the West now has a foothold
in New Mexico.
Three state hatcheries recently
tested positive for whirling disease, prompting New Mexico Game and
Fish officials to begin testing streams, rivers and lakes. Whirling
disease spores, now known to be present in 10 Western states,
attack young trout, devouring brain and spinal cartilage, causing
them to “whirl” in circles (HCN, 9/18/95: The West’s fisheries spin
out of control).
Chief of Fisheries Jack Kelly
says he doesn’t yet know the extent of the infection’s spread or
how it’s going to affect the state’s $145 million trout-fishing
business. “It’s hard to speculate what’s going to happen in the
future until we get a handle on what’s happening now,” he says. So
far, officials say the Pecos and San Juan rivers harbor the
disease.
To slow the spread, all hatchery fish
testing positive were destroyed and buried. “We don’t want to
contribute to the spread by releasing infected fish,” says
Kelly.
The agency is also launching an initiative
to educate anglers about cleaning fishing gear and keeping entrails
away from the water and out of garbage disposals in order to
prevent the spread of the microscopic spores. Whirling disease
spores are so hardy they can withstand a trip through a water
treatment plant or cling to an angler’s muddy waders. Then they can
infect waters the following seasons.
Kelly says
he wasn’t surprised to see whirling disease appear in New Mexico.
Some of the state’s best trout fishing is on rivers originating in
Colorado, he says, where whirling disease has already severely
harmed fisheries.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Whirling disease keeps spreading.
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