Posted on 04/20/2007 11:36:16 PM PDT by neverdem
CHICAGO, April 20 — A virus that has already killed tens of thousands of fish in the eastern Great Lakes is spreading, scientists said, and now threatens almost two dozen aquatic species over a wide swath of the lakes and nearby waterways.
The virus, a mutated pathogen not native to North America that causes hemorrhaging and organ failure, is not harmful to humans, even if they eat contaminated fish. But it is devastating to the ecosystem and so unfamiliar, experts said, that its full biological impact might not be clear for years. It is also having a significant impact on the lakes’ $4 billion fishing industry.
There is no known treatment for the virus. As a result, scientists are focusing on managing its spread to uncontaminated water — quite a challenge since the Great Lakes are linked and fall under the jurisdiction of several states and provinces in Canada.
“Updates over the winter suggest it has spread further than we thought, even last year,” said John Dettmers, a senior fisheries biologist for the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“It’s really early,” Mr. Dettmers said. “As much as I’d like to say we know exactly what’s going on, we don’t. We’re all sitting here on the edge of our chairs waiting to see how bad it’s going to be this year.”
When it was first detected about two years ago, the virus had affected only two species in a limited amount of water. But it has aggressively spread to other areas and other fish and is now being confirmed in Lake Huron after infecting Lakes Ontario and Erie, Lake St. Clair, the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara River. It is suspected in Lake Michigan as well, although there is no official confirmation...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
virology ping
Must be Globull Warming.
L
After Falsified Test Results, Kelly Orders Forensic Shakeup (NYPD)
Natural Born Communists? - Some economic game theory suggests we may be.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Thanks for the link.
Are the female and minority fish populations the hardest hit?
Another legacy of globalism(?)
There is a mite from Asia that is killing honeybees in the US and Europe. I don`t know any solution to prevent things like this happening, unless every country on the planet completely quarantines itself from any type of contact with any other country.
The easiest thing to do about these types of events it to blame them all on global warming.
So what if there is no science to back it up! There is precious little to back up algore’s crowd as far as future temperature and sea levels and glacier melt and economic cost or species depletion, either, and that doesn’t stop them.
Did you read the article? Or, did you assume they blamed it on global warming?
So what if there is no science to back it up!
Who's not paying attention now?
do you link to mite killing bees, thanks in advance
Pardon, let me try again.
Do you have link to mite article or information, thanks in advance.
Zebra mussels come to mind...
Do a search on “Varroa mites”.
thanks
Then where is it native to? Bees dying, fish dying, poisoned animal food. Seems to bee a lot of dots popping up all of a sudden in our food supply...
“do you link to mite killing bees, thanks in advance”
Here ya go.
“The crisis has been forming since 1987, when a bee-killing mite - eventually named Varroa destructor - was discovered in the United States. The mites are from Asia, though it remains unclear how they were introduced here, Mussen said.”
http://www.law2.byu.edu/millerj2/news/sacbee.htm
It looks like it will be virtually impossible to eradicate them.
“If you live on the Great Lakes or in a similar coastal area, you’ve no doubt heard of zebra mussels or sea lamprey. Chances are you’ve also seen patches of purple loosestrife growing in your community or on the side of a local highway. You might not have recogized this attractive flowering plant as a non-native species, but it is. Although pretty to look at, these purple stalks are choking out native plant species by overtaking and altering their habitat.”
“More than 87 nonindigenous aquatic species have been accidentally introduced into the Great Lakes in the 20th Century alone. Once introduced, invasive species must be managed and controlled, as they are virtually impossible to eradicate.”
http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/pollution/ans/ans_1.html
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