19-Jul-2006
- The Environment Agency has instructed the owners
of six still water fisheries in the south, east
and midlands of England to cease all fish movements
following confirmed cases of Koi Herpesvirus (KHV).
Koi Herpesvirus (KHV) was confirmed
at these fisheries after the owners reported significant
fish losses.
Environment Agency fish movements
advisor Paul Lidgett said: "At this stage
the Environment Agency will not be releasing the
name of any fishery being tested for KHV, as the
last thing we want to do is deter fishery owners
from coming forward if they suspect an outbreak
in their waters.
"We recognise that anglers
may be concerned about spreading the disease inadvertently.
However, the likelihood of KHV being transferred
between fisheries by anglers nets is negligible
when compared to the threat via fish transfer,
so stopping all fish movements at the infected
sites is the best way of preventing the virus
spreading further."
Although the risk from wet fishing
tackle is very low, the Environment Agency is
still encouraging fishery owners to adopt basic
dis-infection measures to protect themselves against
KHV and any other fish diseases.
In addition to the six confirmed
cases of KHV, fish mortalities at five other fisheries
have symptoms consistent with the KHV. Samples
have been taken and laboratory results are expected
this week.
While the Environment Agency
has no power to close infected fisheries, they
have advised fishery owners to impose their own
biosecurity measures and to temporarily cease
angling.
The Environment Agency considers
Koi Herpesvirus to be a very significant threat
to carp fisheries in England and Wales, though
it is not uncommon to get a number of KHV outbreaks
each year.
In fact, 16 cases of Koi Herpesvirus
infection have been reported in UK fisheries since
the disease was first detected in the wild in
England and Wales in 2002. The virus develops
clinical symptoms in infected fish when water
temperatures are between 18°C and 28°C.
The Environment Agency is working
with the affected fisheries to help them recover
from the impact of the disease by providing advice
on restocking and dis-infection. With the right
fishery management there is no reason why these
waters cannot recover from the current impact.
Paul Lidgett continued: "Koi
Herpesvirus is not currently a notifiable disease
under the EU Fish Health regime. This means there
is no legal duty to report infections to Department
of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and
Agriculture Science (Cefas), on Defra’s behalf,
have no powers to impose movements orders themselves.
Any controls are based entirely on Section 30
administered by the Environment Agency.
"However a new EU Fish
Health Directive expected in September this year
should change this, making KHV a notifiable disease.
We welcome this as it would give Cefas powers
to investigate KHV mortalities and to trace the
source of the outbreak. It would also place a
legal duty on fishery owners to report suspected
KHV mortalities on their sites."
Notes to editors:
Koi Herpesvirus is a virulent
and highly pathogenic disease of common carp and
its variants, including koi and ghost carp. KHV
can be carried by grass carp and goldfish, but
there is no evidence of it affecting these or
other coarse fish species. Its origin is uncertain
but it has spread rapidly across the world in
the last decade. The virus was first isolated
in Israel in 1998, confirmed in ornamental fish
in the UK in 2000 and first detected in the wild
in England and Wales in 2002.
Head Office Press Office
