The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has destroyed 131,000 fish at the Rome State Fish Hatchery in central New York due a severe outbreak of furunculosis, a bacterial fish disease.
DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said that the DEC fish hatchery system produces 2.4 million catchable size brook, brown, and rainbow trout for spring stocking annually, and lethal measures are only considered after all other attempts at disease control are exhausted.
Furunculosis was first diagnosed at the Rome Hatchery in late June 2012, when samples from the brown trout, which were shipped from Virginia, tested positive.
Within a month, the furunculosis infection spread to Adirondack and mixed-strain brook trout - both known to be susceptible to this disease.
DEC noted that a hatchery mitigation plan has been drafted to clean up the hatchery, including restrictions on transfers of fish in and out of Rome Hatchery, biosecurity measures, and a testing plan to determine if and when remaining lots are free of infection.
