Another ISA report surfaces in BC
The political wrangling between scientists, environmentalists and the salmon farming industry continues despite no confirmed finding of the virus in any salmon on the west coast of North America
FishfarmingXpert, Odd Grydeland, December 01, 2011
Scientists working for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) have historically been considered among the best in the world when it comes to the scientific rigor and credibility of their studies. Many DFO researchers are known and respected around the world for the quality of their work. But when it comes to fisheries science and research in British Columbia- particularly around the iconic Pacific salmon species- everybody has an opinion. And when research findings don’t jive with the individual’s pre-conceived opinion and understanding, strong emotions sometimes come to the surface.
Case in point- when sensitive PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests from tissues of dead Pacific salmon from B.C. rivers came out positive for certain segments of the ISA (Infectious Salmon Anemia) virus, environmentalists, media and some segments of the scientific community jumped on the bandwagon, predicting the certain end of Pacific salmon stocks as we know them, and pointing fingers to the region’s salmon farming industry as the obvious culprit guilty- without trial- of importing this menace.
According to Wikipedia, The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence. In other words, a single segment of DNA that would fit into the ISA genome could also match a similar segment in some other organism such as another fish virus.
The latest report about ISA to hit the news media in the Pacific Northwest region- and no doubt widely distributed by the rest of the anti-salmon farming industry worldwide- is a document apparently leaked by DFO bureaucrats and presented as another “smoking gun” aimed at the salmon farming industry. Apparently written by lead author Molly Kibenge of the DFO Pacific Biological Station, the non-published manuscript reportedly suggests that “an asymptomatic form of infectious salmon anemia occurs among some species of wild Pacific salmon in the north Pacific” (Seattle Post Intelligencer). The report- dating back to 2004- was reportedly not submitted for publishing due to objections by one of the three DFO authors who said to Kibenge that “You may recall that Fish Health staff at DFO disagreed that your data supported the conclusion that infectious salmon anemia virus, whether asymptomatic or otherwise, occurred in the salmon you examined”.
No ISA virus has yet to be isolated from either wild or farmed salmon in the Pacific Northwest region.
