Sanity comes to ISA debate in B.C.
Opinion
When government agencies confirmed the presence of deadly avian influenza in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver a few years ago, chances are that they found few- if any- foot baths at the entry to local chicken farms. But had the same inspectors visited a salmon farm on the British Columbia coast at the same time, they would likely not have been allowed on the farm without first disinfecting their booths and providing their salmon farm visiting history prior to arrival. Similarly, a visit to a farmed salmon processing plant would require the donning of special clothing like booths, gloves, hair nets and coats- all provided by the plant.
Mark Hume writes in today’s Globe And Mail about his faith in the Canadian Government’s handling of the recently initiated scare of Infectious Salmon Anemia being found in B.C. wild salmon;
When avian influenza was detected in the Fraser Valley a few years ago, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) moved quickly to contain it, bringing in a 100-member emergency response team and imposing harsh measures. That crisis is worth recalling now that concerns have been raised about the way the federal government is handling reports that infectious salmon anemia may be present in British Columbia.
Officials say recent tests by a Simon Fraser University researcher, which had indicated the disease is present on the West Coast, have not been verified. “There are no confirmed cases of the disease in wild or farmed salmon in B.C.,” declared Con Kiley, director of CFIA’s national aquatic animal health program, during a teleconference on Friday.
The ISA alarm was sounded in October, when Rick Routledge, a professor at SFU, reported that two samples from 48 salmon had tested positive for ISA. Some environmentalists smell a cover-up, and they think the CFIA is part of it. But given the CFIA’s track record in dealing with animal disease, that seems highly unlikely. When avian influenza was detected in the Fraser Valley, the CFIA imposed strict bio-security standards and ordered the slaughter of 19-million chickens, ducks and geese. Those were hardly the actions of a government department that bows to industry. The man in charge then was Dr. Kiley.
The CFIA has no confirmed findings of the ISA virus in B.C. If it ever does get positive results, there is little doubt it will move with authority. Until then, Dr. Kiley’s calm, steady, scientific probing of the issue seems commendable.
Last week, the same reporter wrote about the steps that the CFIA is taking in order to increase surveillance of farmed and wild salmon for the potential presence of the virus. But in his article, Mark Hume fails to highlight the difference between finding the ISA virus (which has yet not happened in B.C.) and finding a positive PCR test;
Infectious salmon anemia, a potentially lethal virus thought to have been recently discovered in Pacific salmon, has not been found in tests conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency .The CFIA rushed to do sampling of Pacific salmon from British Columbia after tests done by Simon Fraser University researchers, in October, indicated the ISA virus had been found for the first time in samples collected on the West Coast. But Con Kiley, director of the national aquatic animal health program for the CFIA, said Friday during a teleconference that follow up tests on the SFU samples had failed to confirm the presence of the virus.“The government of Canada in collaboration with the province of British Columbia has completed testing all samples related to the suspected infectious-salmon-anemia investigation in B.C. Based on the final results, there are no confirmed cases of the disease in wild or farmed salmon in B.C.,” he said.
Nonetheless, the CFIA is ramping up surveillance efforts on the Pacific Coast. Dr. Kiley said that, historically, surveillance for ISA has been jointly managed by the aquaculture industry, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the province of B.C. But the CFIA is now planning to join that program. He said the CFIA is “leading the development of a surveillance plan to compliment current surveillance efforts for salmon species in British Columbia.” The surveillance program will study both wild Pacific and farmed Atlantic salmon. After the SFU tests indicated the ISA virus was present in B.C. a lab in Norway also did tests on 48 B.C. samples, but only got one “weak positive result,” which could not be confirmed in subsequent tests. Dr. Kiley said the corner stone of good science is repeatable test results – and at this stage none of the preliminary positive tests have been repeatable, so the presence of the virus cannot be confirmed.
The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association said in a statement last week that; “BC salmon farmers were also relieved to hear comment from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans regarding a paper leaked to media earlier this week, reportedly showing evidence of ISA many years ago. The BCSFA had never heard of the paper before these reports. According to a statement from DFO follow up testing to that report had shown no presence of ISA”.
