Salmon virus suspected in B.C. again

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it is aware of another suspected case of a highly infectious salmon virus in B.C., but it will take weeks to verify the findings.

The agency confirmed this week that a laboratory at the University of Prince Edward Island suspects infectious salmon anemia in a coho salmon from B.C. A Department of Fisheries and Oceans lab in Moncton, N.B. is now validating the results.

Observers of the nearly two-decade-long debate between salmon farmers and their critics say if a potentially devastating European strain of the disease is confirmed, the findings could provide the "smoking gun" environmentalists have long been looking for to turn the argument in their favour.

'This is just exactly the kind of thing we did not want to have happen.' Fish farm critic Alexandra Morton

"Presuming that [the samples being tested] are the same variant of the virus that's found elsewhere in the world, then I think that would cause serious problems to our salmon farming industry," said Peter Robson, author of the book "Salmon Farming: The Whole Story."

"It would mean that we've imported a disease from another country for the first time as far as salmon farming goes."

Public inquiry ongoing

The announcement comes at a critical time in B.C.

The Cohen Commission, which is studying what caused the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run in 2009, began hearing final arguments Friday, but announced it would add two days of hearings next month devoted solely to the virus.

Almost two weeks ago, Rick Routledge, a Simon Fraser University fish-population statistician, announcedISA had also been found in two sockeye smoltsfrom B.C's Central Coast, a finding federal officials are trying to verify.

According to the CFIA website, the virus can kill up to 90 per cent of infected fish, although some strains do not cause high mortality rates.

The European strain of the disease was linked to an outbreak on fish farms in Chile a few years ago, and the industry lost 70 per cent of its stocks.

But it's not clear how the disease would affect wild or farmed fish stocks in B.C.

No human risk

While the virus' causes are unknown, ISA is not a risk to human health, says the agency, which also notes a vaccine is available to prevent the disease but no treatment is available for fish already infected.

The virus found in the Harrison Lake coho, in B.C.'s Fraser Valley, was of the European strain, said a report by the Atlantic veterinary college at the University of PEI.

Routledge previously announced that the findings from the Central Coast were of the same strain that wiped out farmed salmon stocks in Chile.

Biologist and fish farm critic Alexandra Morton said she sent the Harrison Lake samples to the veterinary college after collecting dead salmon from the area on Oct. 12.

Morton said she received results of those tests this week, confirming low levels of the European virus in the heart of a coho.

"There's really no winning this for me anymore because the damage has been done," said Morton. "This is just exactly the kind of thing we did not want to have happenan exotic virus coming in. So from here on in, it's just trying to reduce the damage."

Pathologist and microbiologist Fred Kibenge, who conducted the tests, was unavailable for comment. Instead, the university directed media questions to the food inspection agency.

The source of the disease remains unknown. Critics of salmon farms blame the industry, but the industry vigorously contests the allegations.

Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, said ISA's presence in British Columbia has not yet been confirmed and it has not appeared on member farms even though more than 5,000 samples have been tested.

Daniel Pauly, a professor and director of UBC's fisheries centre, has been watching the debate since he came to B.C. in 1994 and said a piece of the province's culture is at stake.

"What is at stake is actually wild salmon," he said. "In Europe there is almost no wild salmon left. So there is not so much of a risk. In B.C., the wild salmon are huge and iconic in the province."

Pauly said he suspects the virus has come from the industry because millions of Atlantic salmon eggs have been imported to B.C.