8057

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8057
• Author: Bennett, J. R., D. A. Krieger, T. P. Nesler, L. E. Harris and R. B. Nehring.
• Title: An Assessment Of Fishery Management And Fish Production Alternatives To Reduce The Impact Of Whirling Disease In Colorado.
• USFW Year: 1996.
• USFW - Doc Type: Denver, Colorado.
• Copyright Material: NO

Whirling Disease-Positive Fish Production Facilities
From 1988 until the passage of Senate Bill 90-67 in 1990, anyone who had a commercial
lake license could sell and transport live fish and was therefore considered a fish hatchery. A
commercial lake license holder was immediately quarantined if they became positive for WD.
Senate Bill 90-67 separated a commercial lake license from an aquaculture license (fish hatchery).
A commercial lake license permittee could no longer sell or transport live fish and, consequently,
did not pose a threat of spreading the disease. After 1990 (creation of the aquaculture license),
the number of permitted people selling and transporting live fish dropped from approximately 140
to 37. As a result, the number of WD-quarantined facilities dropped dramatically. Today there
are five private hatcheries, one non-profit club, eight state hatcheries (Mt. Ouray became negative
in June 1996), and one federal hatchery considered positive for WD (Appendix Q.
Costs
Beginning in 1988, the DOW fish health program expanded rapidly. Much of this expansion
can be attributed to the WD issue. Before 1988, the DOW had one fish pathologist working in
office space donated by the USFWS at the Fish Health Laboratory in Ft. Morgan, Colorado. In
1988, noted previously, the DOW leased space for its own WD laboratory and hired two
temporary employees. In February 1989, the DOW put together a Colorado Aquaculture
Advisory Committee composed of three members from the private aquaculture community, one
employee from the USFWS, and two representatives from the DOW. After several meetings, the
committee produced a final report that dealt with fish health regulations, legislation, compliance,
indemnification, inspection costs, and future committees. The Director agreed with the
recommendations and signed the document on October 13, 1989. For the first time in the history
of the DOW, the Fish Health Section had an opportunity to become proactive rather than reactive
to fish health issues. As a result of this committee's efforts, and with support from the private
aquaculture sector, Senate Bill 90-67, which provided personnel and funding for fish health
programs and stiff penalties for the illegal movement of fish, was passed into law in 1990. As a
result of this legislation, the DOW was able to hire two more full-time employees for the fish
health program. The bill also provided for yearly funding to rent laboratory space, carry out fish
health-related activities, and pay part of a compliance officer's wages.
In late 1993, biologists observed that the wild rainbow trout population in the upper
Colorado River had apparently suffered three successive years of recruitment failure. Studies
conducted on the Colorado River during 1994 implicated WD as a significant factor and perhaps
the decisive factor in the loss of these year classes (Walker and Nehring 1995; Nehring and
Walker 1996). Additional studies throughout the summer and fall of 1994 and 1995 implicated
WD in similar year-class failures among wild rainbow trout populations in the Cache la Poudre,
Gunnison, Rio Grande, and South Platte rivers (Nehring 1996).
To deal with this situation, a major redirection of staff time and monetary resources within
the DOW began in 1994. Early in 1995, efforts at the Fish Health Lab were expanded with the
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