Fish stocks under threat as rare virus kills 50,000 trout

UK - A rare virus which has struck only once before in the UK has killed 50,000 rainbow trout and is seriously threatening stocks of the fish.

The outbreak, which has been traced to a farm in the Yorkshire Dales, has led to movement restrictions being placed on more than 30 other premises along the river Ouse, in an area stretching from the Pennines to the coast near Scarborough and Bridlington, east Yorkshire.

As yet the virus, viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS), has been confined to the single farm on the river Ouse but stock movement restrictions have been placed on 33 fish farms while the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) carries out tests on nearby farms.

With the Cefas test results are not due for another three weeks, many fish farmers in Yorkshire - one of the most important trout farming regions of Britain - fear for their futures. Those farms where fish are killed by VHS will not get any compensation

Source: The Independant