The Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe will work with the National Park Service to keep a deadly fish virus out of Lake Superior.
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, has been discovered in the Great Lakes in recent years. It has not yet been found in Superior but officials hope to prevent massive fish-kills that have occurred elsewhere.
“Fish are life,” Grand Portage Chairman Norman Deschampe said in a statement. “They sustain us physically and are a part of who we are. Our people have lived along the lake and have fished from the lake forever. ...We must all collaborate to keep it from spreading westward into Lake Superior and into other inland lakes.”
The effort will start at four NPS properties on the lake. The response plan is a large PDF file with 149 pages.
Get the Story:Parks, tribal band work to educate people about fish virus (The Duluth News Tribune 3/18)
Fight is on to keep virus from Lake Superior fish (AP 3/18)
