Michigan DNR euthanizes Atlantic salmon infected with bacterial kidney disease
The 30,000-plus fish were a fraction of statewide fish production, stocking efforts
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced today that fisheries staff had to euthanize just over 31,000 Atlantic salmon that were sick with bacterial kidney disease, or BKD.
In early April, routine prestocking inspection of fish being reared at the Harrietta State Fish Hatchery, in Wexford County, found bacterial kidney disease was present. Staff at the Michigan State University Aquatic Animal Health Lab noted signs of active disease and confirmed the presence of Renibacterium salmoninarum, the bacterium that causes BKD.
BKD is a bacterial disease known to cause mortality in trout and salmon and is believed to be largely responsible for the decline in Great Lakes Chinook salmon populations in the mid-1980s. Read more