SANTA ROSA, NEW MEXICO (AP) – New Mexico in the United States (US) wildlife managers will have fewer rainbow trout to stock in rivers and streams around the state this spring after whirling disease was detected at a state hatchery where some of the fish are raised.
The state Game and Fish Department announced on Friday that while the disease was found in only low levels at the Rock Lake State Fish Hatchery in eastern New Mexico, the agency will euthanise about 70,000 trout in the affected portions of the hatchery to reduce the chance of the disease spreading. Whirling disease has not been detected in a New Mexico hatchery since 2007.
“The department will continue to investigate the source of this infection and will continue to perform routine fish-health testing at state-owned fish hatcheries across the state,” the agency said in a statement. The Rock Lake hatchery is the state’s primary catchable trout-rearing station. It produces 300,000 trout a year for stocking statewide. It also raises bass, walleye, catfish, bluegills and tiger muskies.
The department said the disease is not known to infect humans. Whirling disease is caused by the parasite Myxobolus cerebralis.
