What happened to VHS?

Has there been any recent major outbreaks in our waterways or is it a thing of the past?  Just haven’t heard about it in awhile

Typical overreaction from government and no accountability from the"'experts" involved.   And we, the public pay the price.

Hmmm,.....sounds awfully familiar to what has happened over the last few years.

After they initiated the law against trapping, the trapper had to pay to test minnows from the waters they trapped, $1000.00 a pond and you had to list the waters that you were trapping. I had a license, when they started that crap that was it. No profit after paying for the tests yourself. I wasnt doing large amounts so I dont know if was profitable for other guys, but my good friend owned a bait shop and that ran him out of business, me too.

Things that make you go hmmmmm? 

How do bait dealers test for presence of the disease? Is there a test, or do they just quarantine the minnows for a set length of time?

However it's done, why in the heck can't a person do it on his own? Why is it restricted to bait dealers?

EDIT POST TO ADD MORE INFO:

The more you read about this the more P.O.'d your going to get. Bait dealers do NOT test most minnows because they ARE NOT SUSEPTABLE to VHS.

This is a copy-paste from the DNR website:   Bait dealers do not need a FHC (a testing procedure) to distribute non-VHS susceptible fish. The USDA-APHIS lists three baitfish species that are susceptible to VHS: Bluntnose minnow, Spottail shiners, and Emerald shiners.

So, other than those 3 species, which I don't believe are even sold in Wi anymore, the minnows you get aren't tested for VHS because they can't get VHS. However, our DNR will not let YOU harvest and transport any minnows, even ones that can't get, spread, or carry VHS.

Read-up, all the info is here. The info I got is contained in the bullet links in the second section of this DNR web page: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Fishing/vhs/vhs_wbhpermit.html

Any rules put forth by the government/dnr are questionable.   We've been lied to enough.

I never thought it was a hoax either.  I did however think it was an overreaction to something that will regulate itself.  Which it basically did because minnow rules didn't cure it in lakes that had it already.

If you personally knew guys that were in the commercial live bait business, you'd have a better understanding.  I was willing to go along w/ the VHS stuff at first...not anymore.

Even if animals can spread it, why not do what you can to help slow it down? Humans can actually follow laws, while animals obviously can't. Just because something isn't going to work 100% doesn't mean it's going to work 0%

"The number of fish transported by a bird, which would come into contact with another fish, is quite a bit less than minnows transported by fishermen coming into contact with another fish"

Not so sure anyone can say that.  Herons have been studied, and have shown that regurgitated fish still carry highly infectious VHS particles.  You would also suspect that any fish killed by an eagle, osprey, or dead fish picked up by crows, etc. would be regurgitated to young.  There are a lot of birds (not even considering otters, mink, etc.) that could potentially spread the disease faster than bait dealers collecting fish from the local stream to sell as bait.  

The worst part of the VHS minnow regulations is that they're almost impossible to effectively enforce.  It puts conservation wardens in a difficult position and in my experience, they simply ignore it.

The number of fish transported by a bird, which would come into contact with another fish, is quite a bit less than minnows transported by fishermen coming into contact with another fish

"It went away because of the changes they implemented and it burned itself out, most likely. I am assuming they haven't changed the rules back to prevent any other invasive species or diseases from spreading

I caught some crappie on Winnebago with it back when it happened. Was a pretty gross disease and people who think it was a hoax or some vast conspiracy by the DNR are foolish and need to stop listening to Alex Jones for a bit"

I don't think anyone thinks VHS is a "fake" disease, it is just the futility of dealing with it through more restrictive laws on bait dealers and causing prices to double on a minnow.  Until DNR can regulate transportation of fish by ospreys, eagles, otters, crows, vultures, etc. any new rule will only result in a potentially delayed onset for a bit.  Sounds a bit like CWD rules doesn't it?  Even where VHS had been detected it has had overall minimal affects on fish populations.

Yes!  Change it back, this paying 9-12 dollars a sucker is ridiculous.  

It went away because of the changes they implemented and it burned itself out, most likely. I am assuming they haven't changed the rules back to prevent any other invasive species or diseases from spreading

I caught some crappie on Winnebago with it back when it happened. Was a pretty gross disease and people who think it was a hoax or some vast conspiracy by the DNR are foolish and need to stop listening to Alex Jones for a bit