Unique MSU-MDNR collaboration examines fish health

Michigan State University’s Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division joined forces in 2003 to study fish health.

The management team for the project.

Ensuring healthy fish populations can be extremely challenging in Michigan because the Great Lakes are open systems and thus, vulnerable to new diseases from sources such as ballast water or unregulated fish introductions. This combined with the rapid movement of goods, fish and people across the landscape provide unequalled opportunities for aquatic animal pathogen transmission that was unheard of just a few short decades ago.

That is one of the primary reasons why Michigan State University’s Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Fisheries Division joined forces in 2003 to study fish health.

The AAHL and MDNR collaborate to provide key diagnostic services for fish kills, health inspection and certifications for MDNR’s six fish hatcheries and over 30 extensive cool water rearing ponds along with commercial aquaculture facilities, pathogen assessment for the risk and management of new diseases, and disease prevention plans for MDNR’s fish production system.

AAHL is a world leader in fisheries health research, sharing knowledge about how to combat disease in wild fish populations to the broader community of fish health practitioners. They provide education and training to MSU undergraduate and graduate students as well as to MDNR staff and other fisheries and wildlife professionals.

Ongoing AAHL research includes analyzing fish and pathogen information from the surveillance of fish populations for diseases such as viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), which has affected dozens of fish species and spread throughout the Great Lakes over the past decade, and key research on the key bacterial diseases such as bacterial cold-water disease and columnaris that kill many fish in the wild and in hatchery settings.  

Maintaining healthy freshwater fish populations in Michigan waters is vital to ensuring vibrant and economically important recreational and commercial fisheries in our state that provide between $2.6 billion to $4 billion in annual economic activity and is home to roughly 25 percent of the world’s fresh surface water in its inland lakes, streams and the Great Lakes.  

Recognizing the importance of this partnership, MSU and MDNR have decided to expand the Partnership for Ecosystem Research and Management (PERM) to provide a long-term home for the AAHL and is filling two faculty positions focused on health of aquatic organisms to ensure this critical work continues well into the future.

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