Follow-up meeting on largemouth bass virus set

State, federal officials to address public on research into virus' effect on Mississippi Lakes

Jay Sheridan
DM SPORTS EDITOR

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) announced Tuesday that a meeting addressing the largemouth bass virus responsible for fish kills on at least five of Mississippi's lakes will be held Friday, Feb. 10 at the John W. Kyle State Park main lodge on Sardis Lake.

The largemouth bass virus (LMBV) received national media attention after showing up in several trophy bass fisheries throughout the Southeast, including Texas' famed Lake Fork and Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Mississippi's Sardis Lake, Grenada Lake, Enid Lake, Tunica Cutoff and, most recently, Lake Ferguson, an oxbow lake off of the Mississippi River.

Since it was first isolated in Santee Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina in 1995, the LMBV has been found to exist in waterways throughout Alabama, Georgia and Lousiana, in addition to Mississippi and Texas.

While it is still unclear what causes the LMBV, it has illustrated a spread westward. Lake Ferguson, located about 15 miles outside of Greenville, Miss., raised concerns among biologists and fishermen that the LMBV may have made it into the Mississippi River. If the river did contain the virus, it could conceivably spread to every other waterway connected to it.

Fishermen in north Mississippi are most concerned with the future of Sardis Lake, long considered the state's premiere bass fishery and the site of many popular tournaments, including the annual St. Jude Classic. Biologists with the MDWFP discovered the virus in Sardis in the fall of 1998 after at least 3,000 black bass were spotted dead and dying along the lake's banks. The fish appeared to be bloated and floating on one side, apparently suffering from a loss of equilibrium.

Researchers soon found out that the LMBV attacks the fishes' swim bladder, causing swelling and inflation of the organ. In later stages, a waxy substance builds up in the bladder, causing the equilibrium problems and eventually causing death.

Last July, officials with the MDWFP and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a meeting to address concerns of local fishermen stemming from the fish kills. That meeting left many issues unresolved, and Friday's event gives state fisheries biologists and researchers an opportunity to offer any new information that six months of study has uncovered.

John W. Kyle State Park is located on Sardis Lake by the dam. Signs will be posted directing traffic to the main lodge. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

MDWFP contributed to this report.