--Chad Love

A deadly virus that has decimated commercial salmon farms has now shown up in wild salmon in the Pacific northwest.

From this story in the New York Times:

A lethal and highly contagious marine virus has been detected for the first time in wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest, researchers in British Columbia said on Monday, stirring concern that it could spread there, as it has in Chile, Scotland and elsewhere. Farms hit by the virus, infectious salmon anemia, have lost 70 percent or more of their fish in recent decades. But until now, the virus, which does not affect humans, had never been confirmed on the West Coast of North America.

The researchers, from Simon Fraser University and elsewhere, said at a news conference in Vancouver that the virus had been found 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. Richard Routledge, an environmental scientist at the university who leads the sockeye study, suggested that the virus had spread from the province’s aquaculture industry, which has imported millions of Atlantic salmon eggs over the last 25 years, primarily from Iceland and Scandinavia. He acknowledged that no direct evidence of that link existed, but noted that the two fish had tested positive for the European strain of infectious salmon anemia.

Comments (4)

from HuskerHunterFisher wrote 30 weeks 3 days ago

I wish I could feign surprise but I cannot. I hope someone somewhere is working on something to combat this virus and/or commercial fish farms will increase protections against letting these things escape the farm.

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from baconboy206 wrote 30 weeks 3 days ago

all the local recreational and commercial fisherman have been raising hell about this for years, the farms assured us this wouldnt happen, we knew it wasnt true but our politicians were either to dumb to see past the propaganda or didnt care enough to do anything about it. Now were paying the price.

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from Kenc7971 wrote 30 weeks 3 days ago

This is an example of just one of many problems originating with fish farming. Trying to do something unnatural with a natural process. They dont mix. While there is good argument that without farming, our natural supplies for fish would be decimated to feed the worlds population, the regulations for farming are not near strict enough to preclude the release of these types of hazards into the natural world. Not to mention, fish farming is "big money" nowadays, so don't expect laws to change quickly as big pocket businesses have strong political ties.

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from outdoorsben wrote 30 weeks 2 days ago

No surprise here. Man messes up the river systems that Salmon use, then population tumbles. Man has a bright idea to "help" Salmon by having farms of fish to sell as food and to put back into wild. Then man spreads a disease to, what can be, the rest of the wild salmon. What a disaster.

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from HuskerHunterFisher wrote 30 weeks 3 days ago

I wish I could feign surprise but I cannot. I hope someone somewhere is working on something to combat this virus and/or commercial fish farms will increase protections against letting these things escape the farm.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from baconboy206 wrote 30 weeks 3 days ago

all the local recreational and commercial fisherman have been raising hell about this for years, the farms assured us this wouldnt happen, we knew it wasnt true but our politicians were either to dumb to see past the propaganda or didnt care enough to do anything about it. Now were paying the price.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Kenc7971 wrote 30 weeks 3 days ago

This is an example of just one of many problems originating with fish farming. Trying to do something unnatural with a natural process. They dont mix. While there is good argument that without farming, our natural supplies for fish would be decimated to feed the worlds population, the regulations for farming are not near strict enough to preclude the release of these types of hazards into the natural world. Not to mention, fish farming is "big money" nowadays, so don't expect laws to change quickly as big pocket businesses have strong political ties.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from outdoorsben wrote 30 weeks 2 days ago

No surprise here. Man messes up the river systems that Salmon use, then population tumbles. Man has a bright idea to "help" Salmon by having farms of fish to sell as food and to put back into wild. Then man spreads a disease to, what can be, the rest of the wild salmon. What a disaster.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.