This Memorial Day weekend, anglers dipping their fishing lines into the St. Clair River and Lake Erie are being asked to help contain a viral outbreak that's killing fish.
This spring saw the biggest Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia. or VHS, outbreak in Michigan since 2006.
Gary Whelan is the DNR Fisheries Division research program manager. He says they’re asking fishermen not to move live fish or harvest bait fish from the affected area.
“We’re also asking the bait industry to assist us by not collecting bait in the area that has been affected,” says Whelan.
The DNR is also asking fishermen not to harvest minnows within the borders of St. Clair, Macomb, Wayne and Monroe counties. And they want boaters to empty their bilges and live wells before leaving a boat launch.
