Anatomy of Deception
Guest Editorial by Brad Hicks, Aquaculture North America, Jan/Feb 2012
When anti-salmon farming activists announced the discovery of Infectious Salmon Anaemia Virus in British Columbia last fall it was the beginning of a media storm of innuendo, exaggeration and half-truths.
In October last year there were reports that the Infectious Salmon Anaemia Virus (ISAv) had been discovered in British Columbia, Canada.
This virus has been a deadly menace to Atlantic salmon farms in Europe, Eastern North America and Chile. It is a serious concern for fish farmers.
Just the possibility of the virus being present in the Pacific Northwest was enough for anti-fish farming activists to set off alarm bells and start a media storm that fit their well-worn agenda.
For years anti-fish farming activists have been using myth, innuendo, exaggeration, partial truths and decontextualized information to support their thesis that farmed salmon are a threat to the well being of wild fish. And perhaps one of the boldest attempts at this ongoing demonization of farmed fish is this recently constructed scare that ISAv has been found in Pacific salmon. The orchestration of the scare was so convincing that the Cohen Commission, a federal inquiry into why there are such dramatic fluctuations in Fraser River sockeye populations, was reconvened late in December to hear evidence about this dramatic discovery.
“Lethal Atlantic Virus found...”
The story starts last October 17, at a press conference sponsored by Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, where anti-fish-farming activists announced
the discovery that the Infectious Salmon Anaemia virus had been found in wild Pacific salmon. In their press release the activists made several unsubstantiated claims:..
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Reference Link: Aquaculture North America
Aquaculture North America is the premiere trade newspaper for all aquaculture industry professionals in North America. Whether you're a trout farmer in Idaho, a catfish farmer in Mississippi or a salmon hatchery manager in Western Canada, Aquaculture North America will keep you well informed with the latest aquaculture industry news and developments taking place throughout all 50 States, Mexico and Canada.
