The microscopic Myxobolus cerebralis parasite that causes “whirling disease” in trout is posing big problems for trout, trout fishermen and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Whirling disease causes trout tail darkening, skeletal deformities, tail chasing (whirling) and ultimately death. Currently, the North Branch of the Potomac, Bear Creek and the Sand Run in western Maryland are infected.
Whirling disease is an invasive parasite that seems to have DNR – and others – in head-scratching, hair-losing cautions and worries. And that?s since the DNR killed upward of 154,000 hatchery trout since January to prevent the disease spread. There is no cure for trout. It is not dangerous to humans.
The 154,000 destroyed trout have been partly replaced with 83,000 trout from several sources. These include the Freshwater Institute, a West Virginia federal trout facility.
There are still problems. The disease spores are extremely hardy, allowing anglers or kayakers hop-scotching streams to carry it on boots and watercraft. That can infect other streams with the spores and the intermediate host tubifex worms. Spores can live up to three months in dried mud.
Whirling disease arrived here in the 1950s with European brown trout which evolved with the parasite and are resistantto it. It was not considered a threat until the 1990s when western-stocked non-resistant rainbows, cutthroats and brook trout began to die.
One possible solution is a bath for boots to kill the disease and prevent it spreading. A bath – of diluted chlorine or a Lysol product Roccal – can help trout country fly shops and convenience stores deal with the problem.
A 10-minute bath and subsequent thorough rinse is not intended when immediately fishing other waters, but to prevent future infestation. One shop using a bath is Backwater Angler on Monkton Road, minutes from the famed Gunpowder River
A dilute chlorine boot-bath and water rinse suggested and used by Backwater Angler owner Theaux LeGardeur is not the only solution, pardon the pun. The DNR has spent big bucks destroying possibly contaminated hatchery trout and disinfecting hatcheries that might have held diseased trout.
“We have renewed our efforts of public education,” said DNR director of freshwater fisheries Bob Lunsford.
The DNR is posting notices on trout streams that warn of the dangers and caution trout fishermen of prevention measures. The signs list no-nos of never transporting fish between streams, cleaning boots on site, draining water on site from kayaks and canoes, and not disposing of fish entrails in waterways or kitchen disposals.
The new license (fees going up July 1) carries a message about whirling disease and how anglers can help prevent it. It?s that serious.
“We realize how easily it?s transferred between facilities and watersheds,” said Lunsford of the transmissible disease. “It?s not wading in streams that we are worried about. It?s those last two steps you take up the bank in the mud. That?s where the tubifex worms live, and that?s what we are worried about.”
For more information, check: http://whirlingdisease.montana.edu or http://www.whirling-disease.org.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting, and the outdoors. He can be reached at [email protected].
