Virus-infected fish voluntarily removed
With files from CTV, CHEK-TV, Vancouver Sun
It took only six days from the time that Mainstream Canada announced that it had started to depopulate a salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound due to the finding of IHN virus during a routine fish health monitoring process to the announcement that the farm was empty and being disinfected. The salmon farming industry in B.C. had established a protocol to deal with situations like this following a major outbreak of the IHN virus at numerous farms in 2002/3, which caused an estimated CAD$ 200 million (~€129 million at the exchange rate at the time) in lost sales.
The process of removing the fish consisted of pumping the fish into a contained fish harvest boat, off-loading into self-contained tanker trucks at a local government dock, and disposing of the fish at a licensed composting site on Vancouver Island that was familiar with the management regime associated with the disposal of waste from both farmed and wild fish operations. According to a company statement, “Strict biosecurity measures were followed throughout the entire procedure”.
But while the salmon farming company’s employees and contractors were following these biosecurity measures, a number of anti-aquaculture activists were not. The long-term extreme salmon farming critic Alexandra Morton was accompanied by- among else- Anissa Reed (co-founder of the “Salmon are Sacred” movement) and the Tofino-based filmmaker and environmental activist Warren Rudd were disregarding and violating these biosecurity measures by the unsanctioned appearance at the affected farm site as well as at the off-loading and disposal facilities.
A Mainstream Canada statement suggested that these activities by salmon farm opponents put farmed salmon at other sites at risk, as well as the approximately 160 jobs and millions of dollars in annual contribution to the local economy. The activists- very familiar with the aspects of the drastic action taken by Mainstream Canada and the quarantine rules established by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that included the vessel transporting the culled fish as well as the plant to which they were taken- claimed that they didn’t do anything wrong because there were no signs posted at the government dock where the fish were being off-loaded from the contained well-boat.
"It is frustrating and concerning that anti-salmon farming activists choose to ignore biosecurity protocols," said Laurie Jensen, Communications and Corporate Sustainability Manager for Mainstream Canada. "By being careless about biosecurity they could end up spreading virus and disease themselves. Anti-salmon farming activists only seem concerned about advancing their anti-salmon farming ideology. Their actions could put millions more fish at other farms and thousands of jobs at risk," Jensen said.
Earlier this week reports emerged that low levels of the IHN virus had been detected in farmed Pacific coho salmon at a site on the B.C. Mainland, without any signs of disease or unusual mortality. The sample was obtained during routine fish health monitoring, and the results were not surprising, given the endemic nature of the virus in Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon in particular is generally considered to be “bullet proof” against infections by a number of viruses, including IHN.
