Fish Kill On Lake De Neveu Was Not Reported

A member of the Winnebagoland Conservation Alliance would like to know why the Department of Natural Resources did not report a large fish kill on Lake De Neveu in June of last year. Mike Arrowood of Oakfield says their Alliance, which has 25 conservation groups in it, didn’t find out about the 500 largemouth bass and crappie that were killed until October of last year. He learned the fish died of viral hemorrhagic septicemia or VHS. He inquired about the fish kill at the February 28th meeting of the state’s Natural Resources Board. He’s still waiting for answers. He says, “So I went down and talked with the Natural Resources Board and I asked them point blank why the public wasn’t made aware of this and here’s the dilemma. VHS has been around since 2007 and there are groups within the state that want to roll back some of the restrictions like right now you can’t take live fish from Lake Winnebago.” A better question is how VHS ended up in the 76 acre lake in Fond du Lac County that has no tributaries. It is also in Lake Winnebago. Arrowood says, “You know that is the question where did it come from? And that’s why we think it should be advertised because there is the potential. I mean you know somebody maybe fishes in Winnebago and wants to stock Long Lake and they take some perch to Long Lake and you can have the same kind of scenario happen.” VHS thrives in cold water lakes. Lake De Neveu is a crystal clear, 75-foot deep cold water lake. Arrowood says he will be going back to the Natural Resources Board because he still wants to get some answers.