The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has declared the Red Deer River watershed infected with whirling disease.

While not harmful to humans, whirling disease can severely affect juvenile trout and whitefish populations.

The declaration covers all streams, creeks, lakes and rivers feeding into the Red Deer River, ending at the Saskatchewan border.

The CFIA’s announcement follows declarations of infection in the Bow and Oldman River watersheds. Whirling disease was first discovered in Banff National Park in September 2016.

The province recently announced $9.3 million to fund Alberta’s three-point whirling disease action plan.

As part of that plan, the Government of Alberta opened a whirling disease laboratory in Vegreville, a unique facility dedicated to determining the extent of whirling disease.

Additional staff have also been hired throughout the province as part of education and mitigation efforts.

New declarations of whirling disease are not necessarily evidence the disease is currently spreading, but reason for increasing awareness of the need to clean, drain, and dry any equipment that comes into contact with water.

Impacts to wild trout and whitefish populations are significantly reduced when prevalence of the disease in the environment is low. Maintaining low prevalence of the disease where possible reduces the threat to wild trout populations.

There are no plans to change fishing regulations at this point.

Areas in Alberta outside the Bow, Oldman, and Red Deer River watersheds were previously declared as a buffer area and are not affected by today’s declaration.

For more information on which bodies of water whirling disease is affecting, you can visit the Canada Food Inspection Agency website here.

Earlier story about whirling disease affecting the Len Thompson Trout Pond here in Lacombe: Whirling Disease to Blame for Canceled Kids Fishing Day.