Great Lakes Article:

DNR Board affirms statewide ban on moving live fish
Sawyer County Record (WI)
Published December 19, 2007

The state Natural Resources Board on Dec. 5 reaffirmed its earlier decision to apply statewide rules to prevent the spread of the deadly new fish disease VHS (viral hemorrhagic septicemia), including requirements that before leaving the shore, anglers must drain all water from boats and from containers holding the fish they caught as well as any leftover bait

The board unanimously approved permanent rules that are the same as the emergency rules they adopted Oct. 24, and that became effective statewide Nov. 2, after rejecting two attempts by board members to allow anglers to use leftover minnows on the same water on a later date.

“I don’t doubt it will take some adaptation,” said board member John “Duke” Welter. “But we don’t want to encourage practices that encourage the spread of VHS.”

Welter said that anglers can obey the rule “and still get your fishing done — you may have to buy fewer minnows at a time.” Or, anglers may need to leave more minnows in a cooler in their parked car and return to the car to resupply, or may need to find a friend who lives along the water they are fishing and ask them to let them keep their minnows there.

Welter’s comments came after Conservation Warden Tom Van Haren, the policy officer for the wardens, said that wardens wouldn’t be able to enforce a law that allowed anglers to leave a water body with live minnows, even if they only planned to fish the water the next day.

While the vast majority of anglers might honor a rule allowing them to use the same minnows on the same water on different days, others would not, and the wardens wouldn’t be able to tell where their minnows came from, Van Haren said.

“We basically lose track once they leave the lake,” Van Haren said. So the only way wardens can assure that leftover minnows are not taken and used on other lakes is if the angler coming off the lake drains all water from the containers holding them, he said.

Another major provision of the permanent rules adopted by the board require boaters and anglers, before they leave any Wisconsin water body, to drain their boats and fishing equipment of all water.

The rule allows the 100 licensed bait dealers who harvest minnows from the wild for use as bait to continue to do so from waters that are not infected with VHS under a wild bait harvest permit issued by the department. All fish harvested for use as bait must meet strict fish health inspection requirements.

The permanent rules also make it illegal for people to transport, by land, into Wisconsin any water in boats, boat trailers, boating equipment or fishing equipment.

VHS can be spread by infected fish and by infected water, although scientists believe it would take a significant amount of contaminated water to spread the disease.

VHS is not a threat to people or pets, but it’s a significant fish disease and can cause fish to bleed to death. VHS 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.

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

The emergency rules in effect since Nov. 2 last for 150 days. The DNR is able to ask the legislature to extend them another 120 days.

The permanent rules adopted by the board will now be sent to the legislature for review. The DNR is hopeful the permanent rules can be in place by the May 3 inland season opener.

Under the emergency rules, boaters and anglers:

1) May not leave the bank or shore of any water with any live fish or live fish eggs, including leftover minnows. There are limited exceptions to the rule for wild bait harvest, but all fish taken by permit must meet strict fish health inspection standards.

2) Must drain all water from bilges, ballast, live wells, bait buckets and other containers when they leave the bank or shore of any water.

3) May not use dead fish, fish eggs, or fish parts for bait unless they use them on the same water where the bait was collected, or if the bait was preserved by a method other than freezing or refrigeration, or if they are fishing in Lake Michigan or Green Bay or any connected waters upstream to the first barrier impassible to fish.

4) May not use or possess live fish or live fish eggs as bait if obtained outside Wisconsin unless they will be used on the Mississippi River “between the tracks” and if the bait was imported in compliance with Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection rules.

For people who harvest wild bait for commercial sale:

1) The ban on harvesting minnows for commercial sale from VHS-infected waters continues.

2) Harvesters must apply for a permit and specify which lake or stream segment they will collect from. The free permits are good for 30 days and can be combined with stocking and nonstandard gear permits for longer duration.

3) Permit holders must keep records of their harvest and what they did with the minnows.

4) All minnows transported under the permit must meet Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection fish health inspection standard.

5) Harvesters may not commingle wild harvested minnows with farm-raised fish while engaged in harvesting operations and direct deliveries to bait dealers.

Harvesters are required to disinfect all of their gear before moving to another water.

People who trap crayfish or turtles:

1) May use fish for bait only if the fish came from the same water, was obtained from a Wisconsin bait dealer, or if authorized in writing by the department.

2) May now use bait materials other than fish, which previously was not legal for trapping crayfish.

For more information on VHS, go to www.fishingwisconsin.org