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WE TOLD YOU SO! VHS FISH VIRUS ARRIVES IN LAKE SUPERIOR!!
Our worst fears of the spread of the deadly fish-killing virus, VHS, have come true. It’s now in Lake Superior!
This was confirmed by Cornell University upon examination of specimens from diverse locations on the lake
including some from the Duluth-Superior bay. The Cornell team did its sampling of 900 fish collected last June.
While the infestation, due to the untreated discharge of ballast water by lake ships was inevitable, it’s
regrettable that action to prevent this menace was not taken years ago when the first of the invasive species
were detected in the lower Great Lakes. Researchers have no projections yet on how extensive the VHS (viral
hemorrhagic septicemia) may become. The insidious infection results in fish fatalities by causing hemorrhaging
internally and externally. Some beaches in the eastern Great Lakes have been littered periodically with the
pathetic remains of game and non-game species. Citizens coming upon such die-offs scenes should
immediately report them to the nearest DNR office.
Assumptions that the virus cannot be eradicated and that it is harmless to people have been made but are
unfounded in verifiable evidence. We are being asked to proceed directly to damage control. Immediate actions
to disinfect ballast water in both Salties and Lakers would be a better and more precautionary measure. Each of
these ships dumps up to 15 million gallons of infected ballast water into our Lake Superior harbors each trip.
Stopping this practice would end the replenishing of the VHS populations and diminish the possibility of humans
and other creatures from being infected. A self-sustaining population of infected VHS carriers such as the round
goby may not yet be established and could possibly be eradicated if the shipping industry and the USCG would
take emergency measures to enable the treatment of ballast water before the next shipping season starts.
Ballast water control regulations initiated by the states of MN, WI and MI and the USCG will not be effective until
2016. These regulations as written continue to permit thousands of potential carriers of the VHS fish virus
greater than 50 microns in length (fish) to be discharged from each ship each trip. The endless invasion of
these pathogens and aquatic invasive species would be allowed to continue basically forever.
Focusing on damage control is nonetheless imperative in an attempt to prevent the spread of VHS virus to
inland waterways in the Lake Superior watershed and beyond. Outside of total disinfection of fishing and boating
equipment and destruction of bait after use in Lake Superior, these measures will have limited success based
upon past experience with other invasive species including plants. However, regulatory agencies, especially at
the federal level, have failed to prevent this potential disaster. Pandora’s Box has been opened!
Basic measures for prevention include this plea from the MnDNR: “Do not move infected fish from one body of
water to another. Do not move infected water and equipment between water bodies. Infected water must be
totally drained from boats, canoes, recreational watercraft and any other device that has been exposed to
infected water. Be certain that no water from infect sources remains in your watercraft and allow it to dry for
twelve or more hours before launching it in another water body.”
SLSA has been deeply involved in an attempt to stop this invasion of the VHS fish virus. A great deal of
information, both scientific and educational, is included in our website, www.savelakesuperior.org. We plan to
step up our campaign against the dumping of untreated ballast water into Lake Superior. Contact us on our
website if you want to be involved either financially or personally. We will be developing a strategy in the near
future perhaps involving other environmental groups. Also contact our Minnesota federal, state and local elected
officials and express your disappointment with their failure to prevent this preventable invasion.
Our original legal complaint of (2008) and Judge James Rosenbaum’s order for dismissal of the case without
hearing (2009) are available on our website under “Campaigns, VHS Fish Virus”.
Glenn Maxham, Vice President
LeRoger Lind, President
Save Lake Superior Association
Judge Dismisses VHS Fish Virus Lawsuit
In a cookbook fashion Federal Judge James Rosenbaum ruled to dismiss our complaint against the US Coast
Guard and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) division. Our suit alleged their failure
to enforce federal statutes to prevent the spread of this pathogen into Lake Superior.
In the Complaint we asked the Court to rule that the defendants’ failure to enforce their own regulations in the
National Invasive Species Act and the Animal Health Protection Act as arbitrary and capricious and therefore
unlawful.
In response the defendants filed a Motion to dismiss our complaint stating that the Court lacked jurisdiction and
that we lacked standing required to bring the case to court.
In retrospect, the cards were stacked against us. In his ruling the Judge called our effort to prevent the spread of
VHSV “prophylactic” in an unfortunate choice of words. We do not view Lake Superior as a den of iniquity. Our
complaint carefully documented the march of this disease through the lower Great Lakes. It also drew upon the
agencies’ own acknowledgement of the imminent problem for the lake.
None of our claims met his interpretation of what constitutes jurisdiction for the Court and standing for the
plaintiffs in our actions against a federal agency. In his view they have unfettered “sovereign immunity” and may
act at their own discretion to enforce federal statues that do not expressly waive immunity.
On standing, per the Judge, we have none. We have not yet been affected by the virus! The fact that the Lake
is full of other invasive species transported by ships’ ballast water was conveniently ignored. In other words, we
would need to get sick before the doctor gave us an inoculation! In this case we were asking for treatment of
ships’ ballast water. The Judge even speculated that there may be an “unknown antiviral component” in the lake
preventing the spread of VHSV! If this were true, would not the lower lakes also have been inoculated by these
medicinal waters flowing from Lake Superior?
Our co-plaintiffs along with ourselves have decided that an appeal of this ruling is probably not warranted due to
the expense involved plus the significant hurdles protecting the USCG and APHIS from taking any effective
action in preventing the spread of VHSV. The endless stream of the 90 or so other aquatic invasive species into
Lake Superior will continue replenishing our supply. We will press for ballast water treatment as the only
effective means of solving this problem and the sooner, the better.
LeRoger Lind
SLSA
3/31/2009
Our worst fears of the spread of the deadly fish-killing virus, VHS, have come true. It’s now in Lake Superior!
This was confirmed by Cornell University upon examination of specimens from diverse locations on the lake
including some from the Duluth-Superior bay. The Cornell team did its sampling of 900 fish collected last June.
While the infestation, due to the untreated discharge of ballast water by lake ships was inevitable, it’s
regrettable that action to prevent this menace was not taken years ago when the first of the invasive species
were detected in the lower Great Lakes. Researchers have no projections yet on how extensive the VHS (viral
hemorrhagic septicemia) may become. The insidious infection results in fish fatalities by causing hemorrhaging
internally and externally. Some beaches in the eastern Great Lakes have been littered periodically with the
pathetic remains of game and non-game species. Citizens coming upon such die-offs scenes should
immediately report them to the nearest DNR office.
Assumptions that the virus cannot be eradicated and that it is harmless to people have been made but are
unfounded in verifiable evidence. We are being asked to proceed directly to damage control. Immediate actions
to disinfect ballast water in both Salties and Lakers would be a better and more precautionary measure. Each of
these ships dumps up to 15 million gallons of infected ballast water into our Lake Superior harbors each trip.
Stopping this practice would end the replenishing of the VHS populations and diminish the possibility of humans
and other creatures from being infected. A self-sustaining population of infected VHS carriers such as the round
goby may not yet be established and could possibly be eradicated if the shipping industry and the USCG would
take emergency measures to enable the treatment of ballast water before the next shipping season starts.
Ballast water control regulations initiated by the states of MN, WI and MI and the USCG will not be effective until
2016. These regulations as written continue to permit thousands of potential carriers of the VHS fish virus
greater than 50 microns in length (fish) to be discharged from each ship each trip. The endless invasion of
these pathogens and aquatic invasive species would be allowed to continue basically forever.
Focusing on damage control is nonetheless imperative in an attempt to prevent the spread of VHS virus to
inland waterways in the Lake Superior watershed and beyond. Outside of total disinfection of fishing and boating
equipment and destruction of bait after use in Lake Superior, these measures will have limited success based
upon past experience with other invasive species including plants. However, regulatory agencies, especially at
the federal level, have failed to prevent this potential disaster. Pandora’s Box has been opened!
Basic measures for prevention include this plea from the MnDNR: “Do not move infected fish from one body of
water to another. Do not move infected water and equipment between water bodies. Infected water must be
totally drained from boats, canoes, recreational watercraft and any other device that has been exposed to
infected water. Be certain that no water from infect sources remains in your watercraft and allow it to dry for
twelve or more hours before launching it in another water body.”
SLSA has been deeply involved in an attempt to stop this invasion of the VHS fish virus. A great deal of
information, both scientific and educational, is included in our website, www.savelakesuperior.org. We plan to
step up our campaign against the dumping of untreated ballast water into Lake Superior. Contact us on our
website if you want to be involved either financially or personally. We will be developing a strategy in the near
future perhaps involving other environmental groups. Also contact our Minnesota federal, state and local elected
officials and express your disappointment with their failure to prevent this preventable invasion.
Our original legal complaint of (2008) and Judge James Rosenbaum’s order for dismissal of the case without
hearing (2009) are available on our website under “Campaigns, VHS Fish Virus”.
Glenn Maxham, Vice President
LeRoger Lind, President
Save Lake Superior Association
Judge Dismisses VHS Fish Virus Lawsuit
In a cookbook fashion Federal Judge James Rosenbaum ruled to dismiss our complaint against the US Coast
Guard and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) division. Our suit alleged their failure
to enforce federal statutes to prevent the spread of this pathogen into Lake Superior.
In the Complaint we asked the Court to rule that the defendants’ failure to enforce their own regulations in the
National Invasive Species Act and the Animal Health Protection Act as arbitrary and capricious and therefore
unlawful.
In response the defendants filed a Motion to dismiss our complaint stating that the Court lacked jurisdiction and
that we lacked standing required to bring the case to court.
In retrospect, the cards were stacked against us. In his ruling the Judge called our effort to prevent the spread of
VHSV “prophylactic” in an unfortunate choice of words. We do not view Lake Superior as a den of iniquity. Our
complaint carefully documented the march of this disease through the lower Great Lakes. It also drew upon the
agencies’ own acknowledgement of the imminent problem for the lake.
None of our claims met his interpretation of what constitutes jurisdiction for the Court and standing for the
plaintiffs in our actions against a federal agency. In his view they have unfettered “sovereign immunity” and may
act at their own discretion to enforce federal statues that do not expressly waive immunity.
On standing, per the Judge, we have none. We have not yet been affected by the virus! The fact that the Lake
is full of other invasive species transported by ships’ ballast water was conveniently ignored. In other words, we
would need to get sick before the doctor gave us an inoculation! In this case we were asking for treatment of
ships’ ballast water. The Judge even speculated that there may be an “unknown antiviral component” in the lake
preventing the spread of VHSV! If this were true, would not the lower lakes also have been inoculated by these
medicinal waters flowing from Lake Superior?
Our co-plaintiffs along with ourselves have decided that an appeal of this ruling is probably not warranted due to
the expense involved plus the significant hurdles protecting the USCG and APHIS from taking any effective
action in preventing the spread of VHSV. The endless stream of the 90 or so other aquatic invasive species into
Lake Superior will continue replenishing our supply. We will press for ballast water treatment as the only
effective means of solving this problem and the sooner, the better.
LeRoger Lind
SLSA
3/31/2009
| VHS fish virus, now confirmed in Lake Superior! |
Visit our VHS pages to learn more http://www.savelakesuperior.org/stopvhsfishvirus
| VHS |