Salmon-farm industry denies risk to wild fish
by Grant Warkentin, The Daily News, Friday, May 25, 2012
Re: 'Virus raises question about salmon farming' (Your Letters, May 23)
Mr. Hancock offers no facts to support his opinions about salmon farms and fish health. I would like to provide some to correct his inaccurate statements about this issue.
The virus detected at our Dixon Bay farm north of Tofino was IHN, a virus which is naturally carried in the Pacific Ocean by Pacific salmon and herring. It is low risk to wild salmon, who often carry the virus with no signs of disease.
However, we farm Atlantic salmon, which are not native to B.C. and have not had hundreds or thousands of years to evolve a natural resistance to IHN like their Pacific cousins. That is why IHN is high risk to Atlantic salmon.
Our farmed salmon are regularly screened and tested for a variety of viruses and diseases, using good samples collected and tested under a proper chain of custody.
It is precisely this fully-documented, scientific process which allowed us to detect IHN in our farmed salmon and act quickly and decisively to prevent the virus from spreading to other farms.
Finally, every single one of the 560,000 fish at our Dixon Bay farm were removed in contained harvest boats, transported to Port Alberni along a path avoiding all other salmon farms, vacuumed out of the hold into special self-contained trucks and disposed of at a composting facility. There was no risk to wild salmon throughout this entire procedure. All of these facts have been posted on our website.
Grant Warkentin, Communications Officer Mainstream Canada
Grant's letter was submitted in response to the following:
Virus raises question about salmon farming
Nanaimo, Published: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Re: 'Salmon farm faces big loss in cull over virus' (Daily News, May 19)
For too long the powers that be (read: pro-salmon farm factions) have been pooh-poohing all the warnings being given concerning the dangers to our wild salmon from farmed salmon viruses.
Apparently all the Norwegian scientists who have warned us of this possibility were delusional.
Positive tests by other than pro-farmed salmon individuals were labelled "poor science" and the samples apparently too small and the results not believable.
Any hint of this problem was promptly ignored, or worse, called a conspiracy against the farmed salmon industry.
Which brings us to the headline of this article. So, are 560,000 diseased fish a sample large enough and is the fact the fish are being culled "believable?" At a year old these fish are probably at least three pounds each. I wonder what kind of disposal system will be used for 80 plus tons of diseased salmon carcasses. My theory is they will be dumped to drift in the ocean.
"You will observe with concern how long a useful truth may be known and exist before it is generally received and practiced on" - Benjamin Franklin.
I can't wait to see what kind of spin the provincial and federal governments are going to put on this mess.
Rod Hancock, Nanaimo
Salmon farm faces big loss in cull over virus
News Services, Published: Saturday, May 19, 2012
A salmon farm operating off the west coast of Vancouver Island has to destroy more than half a million fish at significant financial losses after tests confirmed the presence of a virus.
Laurie Jensen of Mainstream Canada says test have confirmed the presence of the virus - known as IHN or infectious haematopoietic necrosis - at a site north of Tofino.
Jensen says the company has begun to cull about 560,000 Atlantic salmon, and the fish are all less than a year old
Reference Link: Mainstream Canada News Page: http://www.mainstreamcanada.ca/news/news
