Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a deadly fish virus, has been increasingly invading New York's freshwater lakes and rivers this summer and displacing native life forms.

VHS is a virus that is deadly to fish but doesn't appear to harm humans who eat the fish. It has been spreading through the Finger Lakes, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, fatally attacking yellow perch, walleye and 35 other species. The disease causes fish to bleed, and destroys the organs that make blood cells. The particular strain making its way through the state this summer is responsible for killing thousands of fish of all sizes in the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes basins.

The discharge of ballast water from oceangoing vessels in the Great Lakes is considered the primary source for VHS. Biologists are concerned the virus will spread to more inland lakes as well as fish hatcheries. There is no known cure for the virus, but it can be managed so that it does not spread to other bodies of water.

According to a June op-ed in the Syracuse Post Standard, the potential economic damage from VHS is substantial. Freshwater sport fishing alone contributes about $1.4 billion annually to the state's economy, supporting more than 17,000 jobs. The VHS virus showed up in Lake Erie last spring, killing thousands of perch and freshwater drum and fouling beaches.

One of two measures in Congress that would regulate ballast water discharges passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in late June and is headed to the full House. The measure is part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2007, and represents the first major ballast water treatment regulations to advance this far.

The bill includes a provision that requires about 98 percent of living organisms in ballast water that are 50 microns and larger to be killed by on-board ballast treatment. The bill would require any newly built ship entering the Great Lakes to comply by 2009, but old ships would not be required to treat ballast until 2016. The majority of ships in the Great Lakes are older. Many environmentalists say the treatment standards set in the bill are too low and won't do much to keep viruses or small organisms out of the lakes.

Newsletter Issue

• Ecopolitics Monthly --- July 2007