Government will be chasing fish bugs in B.C.
Canada: With an increasing amount of evidence that an ISA-like pathogen has existed in British Columbian waters before the introduction of Atlantic salmon to fish farms in the province, government authorities are initiating an intensive probe to test nearly 8,000 B.C. salmon for disease
FishfarmingXpert, Odd Grydeland, December 23, 2011
It is nearly impossible to mention the words “fish” or “salmon” during a conversation with other British Columbians without generating strong opinions one way or the other. The iconic salmon has recently been nominated to the distinction of a “Provincial Fish”. And when anything can be construed as representing a threat to these fish, people get their shorts in a knot pretty fast- often without taking the time to study the issue in enough detail to form an educated opinion. Such is very much the case in the on-going saga of the Cohen Commission- originally appointed to look into the shortcomings of returning sockeye salmon to the Fraser River in 2009- but now being a process hijacked by environmental groups that are pointing fingers at nothing else but disease and parasites spread by the relatively small salmon farming industry in B.C. Issues like global warming and habitat deterioration don’t often come up in the debate over reasons for the poor returns- which were followed in 2010 by the biggest run of sockeye salmon in a hundred years.
In response to the credible findings by government scientist Kristi Miller of the presence in B.C. of an “ISA-like virus”, researchers from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has committed to a major surveillance project aimed at finding out exactly what pathogens exist in the marine environment in B.C. The initiative is long overdue, as this type of monitoring was already envisioned when the aquaculture industry in B.C. signed off on producing a Fish Health Management Plan for all of its operations. A program of routine sampling of wild fish along the coast was supposed to be an integral part of a National Aquatic Animal Health Program. But despite numerous examples of swift and decisive action by government agencies when threatening pathogens have been found in other livestock, critics of the aquaculture industry don’t believe these agencies will do the same with salmon farms.
As Mark Hume of the Globe and Mail reports, CFIA is now embarking on the type of sampling program of wild fish that the federal government had indicated support for a dozen years ago;
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency plans to test nearly 8,000 wild and farmed salmon over the next two years to find out if three potentially deadly fish diseases are present in British Columbia waters. The project is an intensive investigation aimed at detecting any signs on the West Coast of infectious salmon anemia, infectious pancreatic necrosis or infectious hematopoietic necrosis. “All three diseases are highly contagious, can cause mortality in wild and aquaculture salmon,” states a ministerial briefing note prepared by CFIA staff and updated Dec. 8. “Surveillance objectives are to determine the absence/presence of three diseases of trade significance … [and] to support international trade negotiations by making [a] disease-freedom declaration that will stand international scrutiny,” states the note, which was filed as evidence recently at the Cohen Commission of inquiry.
A draft copy of the CFIA surveillance plan was also entered at the hearings, which concluded on Monday. During testimony, Kim Klotins, acting national manager of the CFIA’s aquatic animal health division, said the plan is still being worked on, but it should be in place by early next year. The draft plan states that 7,700 salmon will be collected for sampling over two years, and that nearly 20,000 tests will be undertaken on the fish. Salmon will be captured on spawning grounds, taken from federal fish hatcheries, caught at sea and collected at fish farms and from commercial fishing boats and processing plants.
The surveillance strategy, which also involves the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and provincial authorities, was developed this year following reports that three laboratories had obtained positive hits for the ISA virus in samples of B.C. salmon. However, none of those positive tests could be repeated in follow-up studies, leaving officials unsure if the virus had been discovered or not – and raising concerns internationally about the disease-free status enjoyed by B.C.-farmed and wild salmon.
Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the BC Salmon Farming Association, said her organization will fully co-operate with the CFIA study. But she said fish farmers on the West Coast remain confident their stock will get a clean bill of health. “If we were seeing the commonly known ISA virus in British Columbia, we would have significant mortalities on the farms. And we don’t have large, unexplained mortality, we have good survival,” she said in an interview Tuesday. Ms. Walling said the industry, which mostly raises Atlantic salmon, has been testing fish for 10 years in B.C. without finding any of the suspect diseases except for an isolated outbreak of IHN several years ago. She said the industry’s disease-free tests and the “low mortality on our farms” indicates none of the suspected diseases are present in aquaculture operations. “When you pair those two pieces together, I think it does demonstrate that we have good control over the health of the fish,” she said.
Alexandra Morton, a researcher and fish farm critic, said it is clear more disease research is needed in B.C., but she questioned the credibility of the CFIA. She said the CFIA appears more interested in maintaining Canada’s trade status than in protecting the health of B.C. salmon.
