No ISA virus found in British Columbia
Opinion
It all started with the screaming headline in a Press Release issued on Monday this week by the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver: “Lethal Atlantic Virus found in Pacific Salmon”. On top of the list of contacts for more information was well-known anti-salmon farming activist Alexandra Morton, who was recently awarded an honourary doctorate from the very same institution, without having a single degree in her name related to this or any other biological or aquatic animal subject. Headlines quickly popped up everywhere- “Deadly European virus found in B.C. salmon” said the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). “Lethal European fish virus found in Canada” said a similar headline from AFP. The New York Times also chimed in- “Salmon-Killing Virus Seen for First Time in the Wild on the Pacific Coast”.
Even the otherwise level-headed scientists Dr. James Winton, Fish Health Chief of the Western Fisheries Research Center of the US Geological Survey in Washington State as well as the person responsible for the reporting of the suspect findings- Dr. Fred Kibenge of the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) at the University of Prince Edward Island got caught up in the excitement- being quoted as contacts for the Wild Fish Conservancy, “a non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and conservation of the Northwest region’s wild-fish ecosystems” in a release issued on Tuesday this week. The organization suggested- among else- that “The presence of this virus, never before detected in the Pacific Northwest, poses a serious threat to native salmon species that are already in decline or endangered”. The Wild Fish Conservancy “Response to ISAv Detection in B.C.” included recommendations that ranged from the immediate halt to additional net pen salmon aquaculture on the west coast of North America to the full scale transition of all future aquaculture operations “to land-based facilities where escape of non-native species can be successfully prevented”. Dr. Winton called this news a “disease emergency with global implications”.
But then the facts of the matter started to be known;
- There was no identification of ISA virus in the samples examined by Dr. Kibenge
- Almost 5,000 samples of farmed Atlantic salmon from B.C. have failed to show the presence of ISA
- The two samples identified as positive for ISA using PCR technology were never confirmed by either DNA sequencing or isolation of the virus itself
- Laboratory exposure to high levels of ISA virus by Pacific salmon (Coho, Chinook, Chum and Pink) has failed to generate mortality
All of a sudden, the Atlantic Veterinary College web site is not accessible (author’s own experience), and Dr. Kibenge’s boss, Dr. David Groman, Section Head of Diagnostic Services at the AVC stated that contrary to statements made by the Simon Fraser University, the samples that had been tested “came from healthy juvenile smolt of sockeye salmon, not from adult specimens as it was suggested. The basis for all the reporting has been due to findings using real-time PCR testing, with no complete sequencing of the PCR products to do any strain typing of the virus”(FIS).
By Wednesday, Dr. Kibenge acknowledges that “the recent ISA testing was conducted by a graduate student at Simon Fraser (University) who was researching the cause of unusually small sockeye salmon smolts in recent seasons". According to the Seattle Weekly reporter Keegan Hamilton, “Kibenge says his findings have been blown out of proportions- people are calling me from all over the world- newspapers, TV, it’s ridiculous. It’s nothing really to change the industry. It’s really dangerous when you put it that way”. And in the same report, Dr. Winton is quoted with a more muted statement; “..recent findings should not be taken lightly”, but he also cautions that “..it’s far too early to panic. For one thing, no one knows how the virus impacts wild sockeye salmon”.
