ISA virus is serious, so what's B.C. doing about it?

While fishermen are alarmed to learn about the discovery of a European virus in wild British Columbia salmon, the news comes as no great surprise. Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) has erupted in every country that farms salmon. Why would anyone think Canada is immune? Despite the presence of this disease in East Coast farms, British Columbia still allows the importation of non-indigenous Atlantic salmon eggs from other countries. It was just a matter of time.

When Alaska banned fish farms, the top reason was to avoid disease spreading to our wild stocks. What was at stake was no mystery: Norway had already killed entire populations of wild fish due to parasites and disease introduced by imported salmon. Our state wisely chose to avoid such risk; yet folks to the south of us put us squarely in the path of what Alaskans feared the most.

As the representative of Alaska fishermen who rely exclusively on the health of wild fish, I am appalled by the near-silence of the Canadian agencies responsible to protect them. I've reserved comment in hopes that they would send some signal to the public, and West Coast fishermen in particular, that Canada is proactively engaged with a "fish first" attitude.

On Friday Oct. 21 - more than a week after ISA was detected in B.C. salmon - Canadian officials issued a press release devoid of any sense of urgency. They announced they will run more tests, wait several weeks for results, and only then, if additional testing reveals ISA, stakeholders will be convened to, "identify and take appropriate next steps." Really?!

It's sound practice to verify a diagnostic result, particularly one with significant ramifications. What seems beyond the pale is the decision to wait weeks before convening the experts to develop a plan of action. In fact, it's incredible there wasn't a contingency plan in place long before the first farmed fish was placed in an ocean net pen.

At minimum, you'd think the B.C. government would try to reassure us, by pointing to the experts they immediately pulled together to brainstorm how to evaluate the extent of the problem and methods to contain and control it. Instead, in his opening response to questions from the B.C. Legislature, Minister of Agriculture and Lands Don McRae quipped, "Well, we've got another example of spinning media headlines and fearmongering from the Opposition." Not exactly reassuring.

Dr. Frederick Kibenge, who diagnosed ISA in British Columbia, has both studied and diagnosed ISA outbreaks; he runs an ISA specialty lab. How strange that fisheries officials play down the findings of this respected scientist instead of fasttracking an investigation.

We've also read statements that minimize the threat to Pacific salmon. Yet Dr. Kibenge isolated ISA in Pacific coho salmon at a Chilean farm, where large numbers of coho died from the disease. Dr. James Winton, fish health section chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Fisheries Research Center, has conducted much of the research on the topic. Winton has described last week's ISA finding as a "disease emergency" with "global implications."

Canadian officials need to explain to the public precisely what they are doing to monitor and enforce biological safeguards on the fish-farm industry. Canada and the U.S. have a responsibility to protect the wild public resources they hold in trust for us all.

I have no desire to strike fear into the hearts of the public or the fishermen I represent. However, we need transparency and assurance that appropriate steps are underway. If the Canadian government has information to quell our concerns, we have not yet heard it. If they have an effective plan of action, we have not yet seen it. How do fisheries professionals in Canada and along the West Coast intend to safeguard wild fish and fishing communities from the introduction of foreign disease strains now, and into the future? We're listening.

Dale Kelley is executive director of the Alaska Trollers Association.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/virus+ ... z1cNfTuQAf

Since Fish farms are the BC Liberals doing ,probable nothing...this out break is good news for farming industry..At a time when prices are slumping for farmed salmon total annihilation of competing wild salmon is good for business. You can be sure that feet dragging will continue....maybe even a lengthy public inquiry chaired by a LIBERAL faithful ..... ..regrets..hp

What's B.C. doing about it?

Everything they can to Deny,Distract,Deflect......from the truth.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.

They can stall us off with "further studies" forever.

That's all they do anyway........more studies.
This gives them time to come up with more bogus results.

I guess they could chalk up the lack of honesty in their findings to the "Fog of Research".

You know...that new term that governments have coined...where whenever anything happens that they don't want to be upfront about, they will claim they were in a "Fog" at the time.
Like when Bin Laden got shot......they claimed it was "The Fog Of War".

total horse sh...

It should be blatantly obvious to all of us by now, that DFO has another agenda which does not involve wild salmon. They have been bent on destruction of wild fish for some time. Pretty hard to deny after watching their pathetic responses and direction of the past few years. The only question in my mind is why? Knowing that we could well discuss that subject for several years, I would suggest postponing that search, and get on with reversing current Federal mentality, before all salmon are gone forever. There should be rioting in the streets. The policy makers in Ottawa should be hanging from their grungy necks from lamp poles across this country. What is wrong with us? When did we become so mushy that we let bureaucrats destroy what belongs to all of us? Until we rid ourselves of the real virus in Ottawa, we're peddling backwards on Salmon or any public resouce that stands to be squandered. Want to know what you will do with your boat and equipment when the fish are gone? Ask the East Coast fishers, they'll tell you.

I moved from the east coast to Vancouver island 6 years ago. Shortly after I discovered that fish farming Atlantic salmon was allowed and was growing on the west coast of BC. I could not belive the government was going to do it again. On the east cost of Canada the wild Atlantic salmon that came into the rivers each year was very much like ours. Lots of fish made their way into the salmon pools drawing sports fishermen from around the globe to come and try their luck fighting a mighty Atlantic salmon on a fly rod. It was a beautiful thing to see as a salmon would rise to take a fly. Many people made a living guiding sports fishermen, life was good. Then the government decided to allow farming of Atlantic salmon, they had read the reports about how in europe the stopped farming salmon because of parasites but they believed that because the bay of fundy had the strongest tides in the world the waste from under the fish cages would be swept away and there would not be a problem. Within a period of less than 10 years we watched our wild Atlantic salmon population almost completely disappeared.Rivers like the miramichi, St John, grand cascapedia and other world famous rivers have hardly any returning runs of Atlantic salmon. One river, the St John that was home to the world famous hartland salmon pool is now closed. The signs was all there that we are seeing now with our salmon here on the west coast and i will guarantee that if fish farming is not completely stopped on the west coast we will loose our salmon. How many times do we need to do this before we get it. Fish farming kills wild fish stocks.

I came upon this article that show a cover up by the canadian officials dating back to 2002
http://www.khq.com/story/16154863/cantw ... irus-study

I recently sent an emal to Costco, urging them to stop selling Ocean Farmed Salmon, as some supermarkets have done...no reply yet
Here is the email addess I used.
https://costco.egain.net/system/selfser ... COUNTRY=us