Not too long ago, I paddled around an Oneonta wetland helping a group of volunteers get rid of an invasive aquatic plant _ water chestnuts.

But the latest invader in New York state waters may prove a little tougher to battle.

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia is a nasty disease that causes bulging eyes, bloated abdomens, anemia and internal bleeding in fish.

This is bad news for anglers and the estimated $1.4 billion-a-year freshwater-fishing industry in New York.

Although the disease is so far found only in the Great Lakes, the Niagara and St. Lawrence rivers and Conesus Lake, the state Department of Environmental Conservation is taking the outbreak very seriously. Restrictions on the use of bait fish are in force throughout the state to stop the spread of VHS.

Mark Becht, manager of Mayhood’s Sporting Goods in Norwich, has a theory on VHS that I have heard many times before: commercial shipping is responsible for the disease causing massive fish kills.

Discharged ballast water from oceangoing ships in the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes is known to have introduced zebra mussels and the round goby. Many think VHS, originally detected in Europe in the mid-20th century, was introduced in the same way. The discharge and taking on of ballast water is used to stabilize ships during loading and unloading.

Current regulations call for vessels to exchange coastal water with mid-ocean water before coming to North America, but many anglers on the Internet fishing forums I frequent believe these regulations are not being enforced or are too late.

"They knew this was happening 30 years ago," Becht said.

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Also on the invasive-species front, the DEC announced this week it is making $2 million in state grants available to municipalities and non-for-profit corporations for projects to eliminate infestations of terrestrial and aquatic invasive species.

The state will pick up the tab for up to half of the total cost of an eradication project.

Individual grants for aquatic eradication range from $7,500 to $100,000. For terrestrial eradication, the grants range from $2,500 to $100,000.

The DEC defines invasive species as non-native species that can cause harm to the environment and have resulted in ecological or economic problems.

For groups such as the Otsego County Conservation Association and the Goodyear Lake Association, this can only be good news.

Those two groups organized several water-chestnut eradication efforts last summer, including one at a privately owned wetland off Oneida Street on which I assisted.

The deadline to apply is June 29, and applications can be found at www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/habitat/erad.html.

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Staff Writer Jake Palmateer covers Oneonta government and city police and fire departments ... and fishing.