Idaho Fish and Game Researchers Honored

The American Fisheries Society honored Idaho Department of Fish and Game researchers with an award for research that is benefiting fish throughout the world. The Special Service Award was given to biologists working in the Department's Fish Health Section under the direction of Dr. Keith Johnson. Dr. Johnson credits technician Roberta Scott with leading the way to the award, but says the entire section deserves kudos. "These are team efforts" Johnson said, "One person's success is everyone's success." AFS gave the award based on the team's effort to address shortcomings in a test that identifies bacterial kidney disease in chinook salmon. When it works properly the test alerts scientists to the presence of the disease in female chinook, and the eggs from those fish are discarded. According to Johnson, biologists in the Fish Health Lab determined that an inferior antibody was compromising the reliability of the test. That discovery led to two publications that prompted other labs in the northwest to join a collaborative effort to re-manufacture and purify the product. "Our goal was to come up with a reliable test again," Johnson said. That is exactly what happened. The persistence of technician Scott and the collaboration she helped build led to a more reliable test used by fisheries biologists throughout the world to keep fish free of bacterial kidney disease. Here in Idaho, Johnson said reliable testing virtually nullifies a potential 15 to 20 percent mortality rate among juvenile chinook and sockeye salmon which are protected under the endangered species act. "We have essentially eliminated that disease from our hatchery program," Johnson said.