A multi-state research grant will focus on addressing a deadly fish virus in Lake Huron and other Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Fishery Trust announced a $750,000 grant on Tuesday to address viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Fisheries Research Center, Michigan State University and Cornell University have joined together for the effort.

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The research is meant to provide resource managers in the Great Lakes region with new tools and information to better understand, predict and manage the threat posed by the fatal fish disease, state officials said.

The research will compare the effects of VHS on native and Great Lakes sportfish, including lake trout and Pacific salmon, and develop new and faster detection techniques that are key information gaps identified by the Department of Natural Resources, officials said.

VHS doesn't affect humans, but significant losses among muskellunge, walleye, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, round gobies, bluegill, black crappie and gizzard shad have been seen during the period from 2005-2007, according to the DNR.

The discharge of ballast water from ocean-going vessels is a prime suspect in the introduction of the disease to the lakes.