Read this report from the Victoria Times-Colonist on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s decision to downplay recent positive test results from the world’s top Infectious Salmon Anemia experts in Canada and Europe.The Agency defended its position in a conference call earlier today that so far they can confirm none of the positive tests that have been registered but the World Animal Health Organization-endorsed lab at the University of PEI.

“Fears that a deadly virus is infecting B.C. salmon appear to be unfounded, federal officials said Tuesday. Tests
at a specialized Moncton laboratory by the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency and Fisheries and Oceans on 48 samples of sockeye smolts found no
sign of infectious salmon anemia (ISA), said Con Kiley, CFIA national
aquatic animal health program director.

‘There are no confirmed cases of ISA in wild or farm salmon in B.C,’ he said. ‘There’s no evidence that it occurs in fish off the waters of B.C.’ The
results run contrary to tests on the same samples carried out at the
World Animal Health ISA reference laboratory at the University of Prince
Edward Island, which found two of 48 sockeye smolts tested positive for
the deadly European strain of the virus. A coho, chum and chinook also
tested positive.” (Nov. 8, 2011)

Read article: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/victoria/Virus+fears+salmon+unfounded+officials/5677781/story.html

Read this story from The Province, which reveals that four species of wild Pacific salmon – from multiple rivers systems on the BC coast – have now tested positive for the deadly Infectious Salmon Anemia virus.

“In a letter to Senate decision-makers Wednesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell
of Washington and senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich of Alaska
argued the United States should conduct independent tests for the
contagious disease that has decimated Atlantic salmon farms in Chile and
Norway. ‘We should not rely on another government —— particularly
one that may have a motive to misrepresent its findings —— to determine
how we assess the risk ISA may pose to American fishery jobs,’ the
senators said.

Researchers at Simon Fraser University on Oct. 17
announced the virus was found in two of 48 sockeye smolts collected in
B.C.’s Central Coast. On Wednesday, biologist and salmon advocate
Alexandra Morton learned an ISA lab at the Atlantic Veterinary College
in P.E.I. found evidence of the virus in three of 10 dead fish — a
Chinook, coho and chum — she pulled from the Harrison River on Oct. 12.” (Nov. 3, 2011)

Read full article: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Lethal+Atlantic+salmon+virus+found+four+Pacific+salmon+species/5652096/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

Read this report from The New York Times on the discovery of deadly Infectious Salmon Anemia virus in wild coho in a tributary of the Fraser River.

“In documents released Friday, an adult coho salmon supplied by salmon
advocates to a prominent laboratory showed signs of carrying the
disease. That fish was reported to have been found in a tributary of the
Fraser River, a critical salmon run for fishermen in Canada and the
United States.

Last week, researchers from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia
and elsewhere said that they had discovered the virus in 2 of 48
juvenile fish collected as part of a study of sockeye salmon in Rivers
Inlet, on the central coast of British Columbia. The study was
undertaken after scientists observed a decline in the number of young
sockeye.

Such a virus could have a deep impact on the survival of salmon in the
Pacific Northwest. Some scientists have suggested that the virus had
spread from British Columbia’s aquaculture industry, which has imported
millions of Atlantic salmon eggs over the last 25 years.” (October 28, 2011)

Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/science/pacific-salmon-virus-raises-worries-about-industry.html?_r=1

Read this letter from the executive director of the Alaska Trollers’ Association in the Vancouver Sun, wondering what BC plans to do about the discovery of deadly European Infectious Salmon Anemia virus in BC’s wild salmon.

“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.” (October 31, 2011)