Johannesburg – Fishing at Mpumalanga province's Ohrigstad Dam nature reserve is no longer allowed following an outbreak of epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS).
The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency announced today that the suspected outbreak at the nature reserve had been confirmed by its scientific teams.
According to Simphiwe Shungube, the agency’s teams conducted disease surveillance monitoring in the dam recently and confirmed the outbreak of the disease.
Shungube said the nature reserve had been quarantined, with fishing prohibited until further notice.
“We are appealing to fish farmers and fishermen in and around the area to be patient while the entity finds a solution to this matter,” he said.
Precautionary strategies were being implemented to contain the outbreak at the nature reserve and avoid its spread to surrounding catchment areas, Shungube added.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), epizootic ulcerative syndrome is an infection of wild and farmed freshwater and estuarine fish caused by oomycete fungi known as Aphanomyces invadans or A. piscicida.
The organisation said Aphanomyces was a member of a group of organisms commonly known as water moulds.
The syndrome reportedly causes ugly lesions on the affected fish, which can range from small pinpoint red spots, haemorrhagic spots, localised swelling, localised raised areas on the body surface, protruding scales, scale loss, skin erosion, reddened areas of the skin under the scales, exposure of underlying musculature, and ulceration.
Although the EUS-infected fish did not pose a human health hazard, the organisation said it did not recommend eating such fish unless proper precautions were taken.