FWP launches new public portal for reporting zombie fish

As part of the department’s response to declining trout populations in the Jefferson Basin, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks last week launched a new web portal to collect information from members of the public who see sick or dead fish, FWP said in a press release. 

The new portal, sickfish.mt.gov, enables Montanans and visitors to report a description of seemingly infected or dead fish, including details on the location. Participants are encouraged to upload a photo to assist FWP biologists.

Also per the release, though FWP is interested in this information statewide, the department is particularly interested in reports from southwest Montana, where trout numbers on the Big Hole, Beaverhead and Ruby rivers have declined dramatically during the past 10 years.

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“Our biologists are routinely out on Montana’s rivers and lakes, but we don’t always see things the public is seeing,” said FWP Director Dustin Temple in the press release. “This new tool will allow for a direct line from anglers to the department, so we know what they’re seeing when they report it and can respond accordingly.”

Commonly referred to as “zombie fish” by Big Hole anglers and guides, trout that appear afflicted with what could be a fungal infection are a not-so-seldom sight while floating or wading through the river, hence the pseudonym.

Last fall, an FWP biologist collected a number of zombie fish from the Big Hole to be tested for disease or infection. He and others suspect an outbreak of some kind indeed has a hand in the river’s bleak state. These samples have not been processed because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is without a histopathologist in Montana.

In late June, FWP said in an interview with The Montana Standard that a "tentative" agreement was in place to send those samples from the Big Hole to a Fish and Wildlife Service lab in Pennsylvania so appropriate testing could be completed. 

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