IHN in BC Salmon Farms, Updated May 27, 2012

Fund for Salmon Testing

It is testimony to how concerned BC residents are about wild salmon in a time when fish farms are not yet on land, and belief in government and government agencies is low, that we have so far given $27,000 to have Alexandra Morton test wild and retail farmed salmon at the OIE testing labs in PEI and Norway. I have given several times, including the money portion of my recent Art Downs Award for sustained environmental writing on fish farm issues. If you wish to donate, send a cheque to: Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society or PCWSS, Box 399, Sointula, BC V0N 3E0

IHN in Farmed Salmon

IHN, a lethal Pacific salmon disease – that fish farms have also taken to the Atlantic Ocean – has been found in the UN Biosphere Reserve in Clayoquot Sound. It has been erroneously reported by fish farms and news, for example, CBC, CHEK and the Vancouver Sun that Pacific salmon are immune to IHN. Not so.

Claims in news releases from government, fish farms and conflicted academics need to be verified. Just Google: IHN in Pacific Salmon – you will be reading for days.

All Pacific salmon species and especially rainbows, meaning steelhead, are killed by IHN. The reason fish farms get more of it is the density of the fish. They are so close together they infect one another.

This disease is cyclical with 12 million farmed salmon at 36 farms dying in the 2001 – 2003 infection. The previous lethal cycle was 1992 – 1996. I can’t help wondering whether there is a connection between farmed IHN and Clayoquot Chinook and Kennedy sockeye that are in trouble. Megin steelhead?

Here is the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) summary info. It is fair on both sides of the issue: http://www.cefas.defra.gov.uk/idaad/disease.aspx?id=55. 

Please don’t use my tax dollars to compensate billion dollar Norwegian derivative companies – their diseases come back and come back. Fish farms must be on land.

Don McRae and Fish Farm Disease

Our Minister of Agriculture is making changes to keep diseases from the public: to protect us and because the info is proprietary. And it will become illegal to talk about them. Don is setting transparency in fish diseases back twenty years. I don’t think disease is a patentable thing, and is not like those seven different herbs and spices Kentucky Fried Chicken likes to keep to itself. McRae is doing this at a time when 560,000 farmed fish are being destroyed for IHN, a second Clayoquot fish farm is testing positive and a Sechelt coho farm is testing 'weakly' positive. And, of course HSMI and ISA have also been found in Clayoquot farmed fish by Kristi Miller. At 25% that’s more than 100,000 fish per farm with those viruses. We need transparency. Wild salmon need transparency. Judging by all the emails I have read of intergovernmental sources for the early and later nineties, I’ll bet McRae’s staff is not very happy.

dcreid@catchsalmnobc.com

References:

1. T Buck Suzuki Foundation: Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis (IHN) is a virus that affects both wild and farmed salmon. Sockeye, chinook, coho, rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon can all contract the virus, but Atlantic salmon are particularly susceptible. IHN is a virus and not a bacterial infection and infected fish are not treated with antibiotics.

2. This is the OIE summary info on IHN: http://www.cefas.defra.gov.uk/idaad/disease.aspx?id=55.

3. This article says that 80% of Chinook die while 40% of Atlantic salmon die from IHN. Up to 100% in juvenile rainbow trout, aka steelhead, die. No known treatment. http://www.invasivespeciesscotland.org.uk/FileLibrary/Management/Notifiable_Disease_Leaflets_Cefas.pdf.

This Pacific disease was spread to the Atlantic by fish farms taking Pacific eggs there.

4. My summary: Atlantics die more than Pacific salmon because of the high density in the net – a practice that also spawns mutations of viruses. Not that wild salmon are immune to it. For example, wild Chinook, when raised in net pens at their higher densities also die from IHN.

5. News on IHN immunity in wild salmon.

*CBC: Marty concludes the farmed fish were infected by wild salmon which carry IHN, but have developed resistance to the virus.

*CTV: not a problem for wild salmon as they have built up an immunity.

IHN has been present in the waters of B.C. for hundreds of years and wild salmon have developed a resistance to it, though young salmon and sockeye can be vulnerable to it, according to fish virologist James Winton.

*Vancouver Sun (same quote as CTV): http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Fatal+virus+detected+Atlantic+farmed+salmon+first+time+since+2003/6627628/story.html#ixzz1vQ37IRa1

IHN has been present in the waters of B.C. for hundreds of years and wild salmon have developed a resistance to it, though young salmon and sockeye can be vulnerable to it, according to fish virologist James Winton.

*Van Isle Daily:  [IHN] is naturally carried by Pacific salmon, trout and herring, which have developed a natural immunity, but can cause high mortality among Atlantic salmon.

 http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Island+salmon+farm+culling+fish+after+virus+confirmed/6627309/story.html#ixzz1vQ5ZxHie

*Global News: http://www.globaltvbc.com/group+reports+outbreak+of+ihn+virus+on+salmon+farm+in+clayoquot+sound/6442642910/story.html.

Mainstream Canada says that IHN is endemic to wild Pacific fish, and does not affect them in low concentrations.

*CHEK: Laura Jensen says that IHN is a Pacific virus that doesn’t affect local salmon, but Atlantics are highly affected.

http://video.cheknews.ca/services/player/bcpid1011606683001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAA4mHNTzE~,ejlzBnGUUKY1gXVPwEwEepl35Y795rND&bclid=975107450001&bctid=1646581186001.

*Mainstream Canada: http://www.mainstreamcanada.ca/mainstream-canada-farm-north-tofino-tests-positive-ihn-virus-0.

The IHN virus is naturally carried by Pacific salmon, trout and herring. Studies show wild Pacific salmon have a natural resistance to the virus and very rarely suffer ill effects from it….. Since Atlantic salmon are not native to the Pacific coast, they have not had hundreds of years to develop a natural immunity to the virus, like their Pacific cousins.

6. IHN 2001 outbreak: http://www.int-res.com/articles/dao2006/72/d072p213.pdf. And they found two different isolates of IHN, meaning mutation occurred.

And the previous cyclical infection was in 1992 – 1996.

7. Don McRae making fish farm diseases unreportable. http://m.thetyee.ca/News/2012/05/15/BC-Disease-Outbreaks/. 

8. Miller on ISA in Clayoquot: The direct reference in the Cohen Commission transcripts from Dec 15, 2011 are: Page 112, lines 34 - 47. Line 39: Miller: "It was 25 percent." http://www.cohencommission.ca/en/Schedule/Transcripts/CohenCommission-HearingTranscript-2011-12-15.pdf#zoom=100

9. Miller on HSMI in Clayoquot: The direct reference in the Cohen Commission transcripts from Dec 15, 2011 are: Page 113, lines 6 – 9, Miller: “We did find fish positive for the 8 pasendrial (phonetic) virus, which is thought to be causing HSMI.”

Then Are Nylund goes on about how lethal HSMI has been in Norway.

 ***

 

End notes. Not part of article:

"This is code red," said Laurie Jensen representing the Norwegian-owned company Cermaq (owners of Mainstream Canada). "So we are just going to depopulate. We will lose money. It's in the millions."

This is another saving of on-land systems: no disease losses in the millions, and diseases are cyclical, meaning they come back over and over.

The last infection: “Between August 2001 and June 2003, 36 Atlantic salmon farms in BC contracted IHNV," stated the paper.  "This constituted over 50% of all Atlantic salmon seawater farms in the province. Over 12 million farmed Atlantic salmon died or were culled as a result of the epidemic.”

Mainstream Canada spokesperson Laurie Jensen says the company is expecting the blow-back. [getting nets out of water]

"I’m sure some of our critics will try and make this an issue and they will try and use any kind of unusual activity to create confusion and a food safety issue," Jensen says. "But it’s just not an issue."

I sure wouldn't buy a farmed fish - for many reasons - but one with viruses. I think not.

And this really is an issue as the issue is always wild Pacific salmon. It may already be too late to save all the salmonids in the Pacific ocean. I sure hope not.

KEY LINKS - Fish Farm Share Prices and Financial Information, Updated May 25 2012

 This post will up date fish farm share prices and financial information from the original post. Go to the original post for share price links and so on: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2011/10/key-links-fish-farm-share-prices-and.html.

Fish Farm industry Stats 2011-2012: http://www.thefishsite.com/fishnews/17232/chiles-salmon-industry-makes-a-comeback.

Fish Farms Infect Wild BC Salmon, May 13, 2012

Grant Warkentin, info officer for Mainstream Canada, recently wrote a letter to the Times Colonist newspaper. He said it is pure speculation without any scientific evidence that fish farm salmon diseases affect wild salmon, and that on-land, closed-pen fish farms are not technically feasible.

Here is my answer. You will note the references below the rebuttal:

Fish Farm Diseases

The letter to the editor from Grant Warkentin, Mainstream Canada says there is no evidence fish farm viruses are affecting wild salmon and the sockeye from the Fraser River – the Cohen Commission salmon.

I’d say there is lots of evidence. ISA, for instance, is an Atlantic Ocean virus of two strains that became a third and potent salmon killer when Norwegian fish farms developed it. Evidence of ISA – not a Pacific Ocean virus - has been discovered in BC by Kristi Miller, Fred Kibenge and Are Nylund. Miller, for instance, showed that 25% of Clayoquot farmed Chinook salmon have HSMI and ISA – Cohen testimony. Kibenge and Nylund, have found ISA in wild salmon, including salmon from the Fraser River.

Miller has the best equipment and Kibenge and Nylund are the two, and only two, world reference labs for ISA and fish farm diseases. Kibenge says this: Aquatic animal disease is part and parcel of aquaculture. His document [below] says one third to one half of all aquaculture product in the world is lost to recurring disease annually.

The BC fish farm disease tables, Exhibits 1497 to 1507, are on the Cohen record, August 23, 2011. You can read the occurrence of many of the dozens of viral, fungal and bacterial diseases in wild/farmed salmon. The records show 28 million farmed fish have died in the period 2002 to 2010 – from all causes. That’s a lot of dead fish.

‘Evidence’ is not the same word as ‘proof’. And this semantic difference is where fish farms often hang their hat. Proof of ISA comes when 100% of the sample’s genetic code is confirmed as, in this case, east Atlantic (presently about 90%) and when a viral sample is isolated. Miller’s viral signature work in Fraser sockeye shows the evidence of infection, including up to 90% die swimming up-river. Again, more work for ‘proof’.

Another wrinkle is that viral isolates are hard to establish. So there can be over whelming ‘evidence’ of disease in PCR and other tests, but no isolate, which is an OIE requirement. A third wrinkle is that, while not mentioned, DFO uses the Moncton lab under Gagne, to prove things. They have old equipment and December Cohen testimony said that Moncton methods were not good at finding ISA.

And there are those pesky 45 farmed salmon tested recently by Kibenge and Nylund, both finding HSMI in 44 of them. So there is lots of evidence. The remaining question is: were the retailed farmed fish grown in BC? Proof will come when the HSMI virus is coded and compared with Norwegian HSMI. And the public is so concerned we have donated $27,000 for testing wild salmon so far. I will give more: the cash portion of my Art Downs Award for sustained writing about fish farm issues. Cheques to: Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society or PCWSS, Box 399, Sointula, BC V0N 3E0

Now, the comment that in-ocean, open-net farmed salmon will be necessary for long-term sustainable business in BC. Not really. Some fish farms, like those in BC, like to externalize their costs by using the ocean as a free, open sewer. Others don’t. I have a list of 46 different, mostly-closed, on-land fish farm systems comprising more than 8,052 actual farms around the world on land. So BC farms should be on land. This is like air bags in cars. Car manufacturers said it could not be done. But with a little legislation, all cars now have air bags.

582 Words

dcreid@catchsalmonbc.com

References:

1. The Kibenge document: http://www.oie.int/eng/A_aquatic/Docs/Presentations/1.11Kibenge.ppt.

2. A current summary of fish farm and wild salmon disease in BC:

http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/Salmon%20farm%20viruses%20spilling%20into%20Pacific%20Ocean.pdf.

3. Cohen Commission hearings schedule: http://www.cohencommission.ca/en/Schedule/.

4. HSMI:  http://www.huffstrategy.com/MediaManager/release/Salmon-are-Sacred/24-4-12/Application-made-to-reopen-Cohen-Commission-into-the-decline-of-F/2509.html

In a televised interview (April 20, 2012) Dr. Gary Marty, the Provincial farm salmon veterinarian and Cohen Commission witness confirmed he found the virus [HSMI] in 75% of BC farm salmon he tested [in 2010].

5. Fish farms won’t be tested by Miller: Link to Miller Dec 15 Cohen comments that say BC fish farms backed out of having her test farmed salmon for ISA at the last minute.

So how can Mary Ellen Walling claim she is confident that the DFO/Provincial testing has confirmed BC farmed salmon have no ISA?

http://www.salmonguy.org/?p=4691&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=government-cover-up-coming-to-light-at-cohen-commission-today

6. Week 1 Review of Cohen Commission [2011]:

http://www.superheroes4salmon.org/blog/week-1-review-skeletons-rattling-cohen%E2%80%99s-closet

*Disease and mortality data detailing specific sites and companies made publicly available for the first time ever for the years 2002 to 2010 (including 28 million dead farmed salmon and the diseases: Renibacterium salmoninarum Infection, Lepeophtheirus Infection, Vibrio (Listonella) Infection, Piscirickettsia salmonis Infection, Viral Haemorrhagic Septicemia Virus Infection, Aeromonas salmonicida Infection and Myxobacterial Infection)

*Genomic data collected by DFO’s Dr. Kristi Miller indicate that a potentially novel disease, possibly viral in origin “could account for the loss of 27 million salmon” [This means sockeye from the Fraser River].

7. ISA/HSMI in Clayoquot Sound: http://www.thecanadian.org/k2/item/1222-kristi-miller-cohen-commission-salmon-virus.

Back to Clayoquot Sound and this new virus Miller discovered there. When she was invited to test Creative Salmon’s farmed Chinook salmon, Miller came up with two shocking findings: 1. A full 25% of these fish tested positive for ISAv (so there you have it – farmed fish in BC with ISAv, contrary to the claims of the Province’s fish health audit office and industry that after thousands of test over the years, they’re just sure it isn’t in their fish!); 2. A second virus known as piscine rheovirus – the cause of a deadly disease called HSMI (Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation). [this was the real shocker].

8. Miller on ISA in Clayoquot: The direct reference in the Cohen Commission transcripts from Dec 15, 2011 are: Page 112, lines 34 - 47. Line 39: Miller: "It was 25 percent."

http://www.cohencommission.ca/en/Schedule/Transcripts/CohenCommission-HearingTranscript-2011-12-15.pdf#zoom=100.

9. Miller on HSMI in Clayoquot: The direct reference in the Cohen Commission transcripts from Dec 15, 2011 are: Page 113, lines 6 – 9, Miller: “We did find fish positive for the 8 pasendrial (phonetic) virus, which is thought to be causing HSMI.” Then Are Nylund goes on about how lethal HSMI has been in Norway.

10. Kristi Miller Power Point Presentation on Fraser Sockeye Viral Signature: http://www.cohencommission.ca/DownloadExhibit.php?ExhibitID=688.

11. One Miller table on ISA in Clayoquot Sound farmed salmon:  Download Exh 2053 - 136a. Creative Salmon ISA Test Results.xls (39.5K). See columns AE, AF, AG. 25.53% ISAV. ISAV-P7 confirmed with sequencing.

12. Here is a list of the several dozen diseases that salmon get: http://www.gaaia.org/farmageddon.