Through Injections and Inspections La Crosse Fish Health Center Keeps Fish Healthy and Free of Disease
The La Crosse Fish Health Center, WI is one of nine fish health centers across the country. It is responsible for fish health monitoring in Region 3.
Why is Fish Health Important?
The health and well being of fish is important for the National Fish Hatchery System and to all aquaculture facilities because it is important to make sure that the fish that the fish we stock into public waters are healthy and disease free. The La Crosse Fish Health Center keeps fish disease-free at six National Fish Hatcheries and three tribal facilities within the Great Lakes/Big Rivers Region. The office also provides laboratory services and technical assistance on fish health and fish propagation issues to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field offices; tribal, state, commercial, university and research agencies.
Services the Fish Health Center provides include fish disease diagnostics, inspection and certification of disease presence in production facilities, confirmation of specific fish pathogens from other health labs, applied research, technical information exchange and fish health management training for the people who work directly with fish production.
The Fish Health Center also screens wild fish for pathogens as part of the National Wild Fish Health Survey incorporated by the Service in 1997 to to determine the distribution of serious fish pathogens like Whirling Disease, Bacterial Kidney Disease and Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus, which can have a devastating impact on wild fishes. The center also conducts research into parasitic, viral and bacterial fish disease agents, and is an active partner in the Food and Drug Administration’s Investigational New Animal Drug Program (INAD) to investigate new and existing drugs for use in fish health management
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