During the recent monthly meeting of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, commissioners approved a fish health regulation to protect the state’s waterways from viral hemorrhagic septicemia.

The frightening disease has already caused massive fish kills Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Because many of the fish susceptible to the virus are gamefish, it has the potential to wreak havoc on major waterways, killing the very pecies people enjoy fishing for the most.

Arkansas’ new regulation will require that all live fish and fertilized eggs being shipped from VHS-positive states meet guidelines set by the World Health Organization for Animal Health Standards. Drivers hauling such fish will be required to carry documentation that proves those guidelines have been met.

Permits for transporting fish from these areas will be $200.