The disease, which attacks the cartilage in the heads and spines of young trout and salmon, leaving them deformed, swimming in circles and, sometimes, dead, has made a slow march across the state since it was first confirmed in 1991 at a private facility in southern Utah owned by the family of former Gov. Mike Leavitt. Already, it has shut down three state hatcheries and shrunk the private aquaculture industry to near extinction.
Health officials say there is no health risk to humans from eating or handling infected fish.
But the fact that the parasite may be headed for Strawberry is "a real concern," said Roger Wilson, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) sport fishing coordinator. "It is imperative that we do what we can to protect every fishery from whirling disease, but it could impact Strawberry more than many of the others."
The Duchesne River and Rock Creek in Duchesne County, where whirling disease has been discovered in brown, cutthroat, rainbow and brook trout, as well as in whitefish, are not naturally linked to Strawberry in Wasatch County, but Central Utah Project pipelines provide a direct connection between the water bodies.
If the disease spreads via those pipelines, it could have a severe biological impact on the popular fishery as well as a profound psychological impact on anglers, said Jim Carter, Strawberry Anglers Coalition president.
"We have been working to get the natural reproduction going to keep the fishery as healthy as possible and this could hurt," he said. "I'm also worried about the effect it could have on people's minds when they hear that whirling disease is there. It could be disastrous."
Samples in which the parasite was detected were taken last fall three miles downstream from Tabiona at the confluence of the West and North forks of the Duchesne. The infected part of the Duchesne River is dominated by brown trout, one of the trout most resistant to the disease.
Fisheries biologists also are concerned about pure strain Colorado River cutthroat - one of the most susceptible trout to the parasite - in the West Fork of the Duchesne. Those fish are used as a brood stock source to plant lakes and rivers with cutthroat on the entire south slope of the Uinta Mountains. That program is aimed at keeping Colorado River cutthroat from being listed as threatened or endangered on the endangered species list.
Bear Lake cutthroat, a strain of native Bonneville cutthroat, are being used at Strawberry to help control unwanted populations of Utah chub and resided shiners.
Wilson said 60 percent of the reservoir's overall cutthroat population comes from natural reproduction, and maintaining that recruitment is vital to Strawberry's management plan. "Whirling disease could have a serious impact by limiting the numbers of upcoming fish," he said.
In addition to affecting trout, whirling disease could also have a significant impact on Strawberry's kokanee salmon population. Although not as popular with the anglers as cutthroat or rainbows, the salmon provide an important and popular wildlife program for the DWR each fall.
It may already be too late to stop the spread, officials said.
Samples taken last fall on the West Fork of the Duchesne came back negative, but it is still possible whirling disease has found its way to the Vat Diversion and feeder pipeline that dumps into Currant Creek Reservoir. Water is moved from Currant Creek to Strawberry through another pipeline and enters the reservoir at an area just off of Highway 40 known as the Ladders.
DWR officials will collect more samples above the Vat Diversion on the West Fork of the Duchesne when access allows. Meanwhile, plans are under way to create a fish barrier to prevent infected fish from carrying the whirling disease parasite above the link to Strawberry Reservoir.
"The barrier will stop fish, but it won't stop people," said Chris Wilson, director of the DWR's Fisheries Experiment Station in Logan which conducts whirling disease testing. ''With what we have seen in the past few years with the spread of whirling along roads, we have to consider that anglers and other recreationists are playing the largest role . . . in spreading it.''
Wilson said no source for the whirling disease parasite on the Duchesne has been found, but he confirmed that DWR received a report from the Utah Department of Agriculture last year about private ponds along Rock Creek being planted with trout from a whirling disease infected source. Wilson said that because of the extent of the infection, it is unlikely that the private ponds were the source for the Duchesne River outbreak, but that the report prompted testing in the river.
According to the 2005 Utah Angler Survey prepared by Utah State University and the DWR, Strawberry had 525,917 angler days that year. That is nearly double the next closest Utah fishery. Angler days at Strawberry, one of the best trout fisheries in the West, approached 800,000 in 2000.
Part of the reason Strawberry is so popular is that it is known as a good place to catch trophy trout.
A state regulation forces anglers at the reservoir to release all cutthroat between 15 and 22 inches in order to get fish large enough that they can feed exclusively on the undesired fish and to get the fish mature enough to provide natural reproduction within the reservoir.
That gives Utah anglers a good chance of landing trout longer than 20 inches, considered trophies by most anglers.
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* BRETT PRETTYMAN can be contacted at brettp@sltrib.com or 801-257-8902.
DOs and DON'Ts
What can you do to help prevent the spread of whirling disease?
* DO clean all equipment such as boats, trailers, waders, boots, float tubes and fins of mud before leaving an area when fishing. Thoroughly dry equipment in the sun if possible before reuse. If you are traveling directly to other waters, clean your equipment with a 10 percent solution of chlorine bleach or use another set of equipment.
* DON'T transport live fish between bodies of water. This practice could spread disease and is strictly illegal unless the fish have been completely tested free of disease.
* DON'T dispose of fish heads, skeletons or entrails in any body of water. Fish parts should be disposed of in the garbage, by deep burying or by total burning.
* CALL if you observe the symptoms of whirling disease in fish or observe illegal stocking. Contact your local conservation officer directly or call the poaching hot line at 1-800-662-3337.
* Beaver Creek (tributary to Weber River, near Kamas)
* Beaver River (tributary to Minersville Reservoir)
Bear Lake
* Blacksmith Fork River (lowest part of river, at mouth of canyon below abandoned dam)
* Burnt Fork/north slope Uinta Mountains
* Causey Reservoir
* Deer Creek Reservoir
* Duchesne River
* East Canyon Creek (tributary to Weber River)
* Electric Lake
* Forsyth Reservoir
* Fremont River, Spring Creek, UM Creek
* Geyser Creek
* Geyser Ditch (Buckeye Creek)
* Hobble Creek/Spanish Fork River
* Huntington Creek
* Hyrum Reservoir
* Johnson Valley Reservoir
* Jordanelle Reservoir
* Little Bear River
* Logan River
* Lost Creek (tributary to Weber River)
* Mill Meadow Reservoir
* Minersville Reservoir
* Otter Creek
* Otter Creek Reservoir
* Porcupine Reservoir
* Provo River, entire river system
* Rock Creek
* Rockport Reservoir
* South Fork Ogden River (Causey to Pineview)
* Spring Creek Area (College Ward, Cache County)
* Weber River
Source: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
