The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation reported that a fish virus, Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN), was found recently in samples of trout from the hatchery on the Connetquot River State Park Preserve on Long Island. There is no known health threat to humans who handle or consume fish that contain the IPN virus, but IPN is considered a serious fish disease capable of causing extensive mortality in young trout.

IPN is most often associated with affecting trout and its symptoms range from turning fish fry a blackish color, to affecting fingerlings with hemorrhages or exophthalmia (also known as "popeye"). When IPN infects hatchery fish, it can affect that population for some time, then go dormant for many years before reemerging. The disease can cause extensive mortalities in affected fish populations. The hatchery fish do not always display symptoms of IPN and have the potential of infecting wild trout or other fish species if introduced into a body of water, potentially resulting in a mortality event.

The virus that causes IPN was found in samples of brook, brown and rainbow trout that were collected from the hatchery in November 2006 and sent to DEC's Rome Fish Disease Control Unit laboratory for analysis. This was conducted as part of a fish health inspection program conducted by DEC at state-owned and private hatcheries that raise fish to be released into the state's waters.

The virus may be transmitted from infected fish to uninfected fish, and from parent fish to their offspring. There is no demonstrated cure for IPN. It is not known when this virus first became present in trout at the Connetquot Hatchery because previous annual fish health inspections were focused solely on the whirling disease parasite.

DEC initiated more comprehensive fish health inspections in response to Federal action taken in Fall 2006 involving a different fish virus, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS). DEC regulations now require inspection for a number of fish pathogens and parasites as part of an overall effort to protect New York's aquatic resources and hatcheries from harmful diseases or infections.