PRV Causes HSMI - Wessel et al

Just out in August, 2017, Wessel et al have shown that PRV causes HSMI. With 80% of farmed fish carrying PRV, and DFO appealing a decision that denied them passing authority to fish farms to keep on doing it, HSMI is inevitable. This is bad news.

The title says it all: 

Infection with purified Piscine orthoreovirus demonstrates a causal relationship with heart and skeletal muscle inflammation in Atlantic salmon

You will recall that Alexandra Morton et al showed pretty much the same thing, along with the stats that showed upper Fraser River sockeye with PRV showed up on spawning areas at a much reduced percent compared with lower Fraser sockeye. In other words we need fish farms to stop putting in PRV carrying farmed fish. And, of course, Kristi Miller showed that PRV causes HSMI, too.

The link to the Morton/Routledge article on this site is:  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2017/12/fish-farm-prv-infectskills-wild-salmon.html. Go take a look.

The direct link is: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0188793.

Here is the abstract of the Wessel article:

Abstract

Viral diseases pose a significant threat to the productivity in aquaculture. Heart- and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) is an emerging disease in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farming. HSMI is associated with Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) infection, but PRV is ubiquitous in farmed Atlantic salmon and thus present also in apparently healthy individuals. This has brought speculations if additional etiological factors are required, and experiments focusing on the causal relationship between PRV and HSMI are highly warranted. A major bottleneck in PRV research has been the lack of cell lines that allow propagation of the virus. To bypass this, we propagated PRV in salmon, bled the fish at the peak of the infection, and purified virus particles from blood cells. Electron microscopy, western blot and high-throughput sequencing all verified the purity of the viral particles. Purified PRV particles were inoculated into naïve Atlantic salmon. The purified virus replicated in inoculated fish, spread to naïve cohabitants, and induced histopathological changes consistent with HSMI. PRV specific staining was demonstrated in the pathological lesions. A dose-dependent response was observed; a high dose of virus gave earlier peak of the viral load and development of histopathological changes compared to a lower dose, but no difference in the severity of the disease. The experiment demonstrated that PRV can be purified from blood cells, and that PRV is the etiological agent of HSMI in Atlantic salmon.

Here is the link to the article: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0183781.

This is my article on Kristi Miller's take on the problems in DFO: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/key-document-dr-kristi-miller-diseases.html.

This has a link to the Kristi Miller article on PRV causes HSMI: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171471.

Here is a link to an article that shows DFO has to be sued to prevent diseased Atlantics being put in BC waters by fish farms: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2017/07/.

Fish Farm PRV Infects/Kills Wild Salmon

The significance of this paper by Morton/Routledge et al is: that it shows that fish farms infect wild salmon with PRV and that PRV is killing salmon on their upstream spawning migration.

Fish farms continue doing their Big Tobacco Denial of knowing no cancer/evil.

I sure wish we lived in WA as they have simply cancelled Cooke's Port Angeles licence for violations. Not so in Canada where the governments fall over backward to allow fish farms to continue in-ocean rather than do the obvious: put them on land.


Here is the paper: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0188793.

Abstract:

The disease Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI) is causing substantial economic losses to the Norwegian salmon farming industry where the causative agent, piscine orthoreovirus (PRV), is reportedly spreading from farmed to wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) with as yet undetermined impacts. To assess if PRV infection is epidemiologically linked between wild and farmed salmon in the eastern Pacific, wild Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus sp.) from regions designated as high or low exposure to salmon farms and farmed Atlantic salmon reared in British Columbia (BC) were tested for PRV. The proportion of PRV infection in wild fish was related to exposure to salmon farms (p = 0.0097). PRV was detected in: 95% of farmed Atlantic salmon, 37–45% of wild salmon from regions highly exposed to salmon farms and 5% of wild salmon from the regions furthest from salmon farms. The proportion of PRV infection was also significantly lower (p = 0.0008) where wild salmon had been challenged by an arduous return migration into high-elevation spawning habitat. Inter-annual PRV infection declined in both wild and farmed salmon from 2012–2013 (p ≤ 0.002). These results suggest that PRV transfer is occurring from farmed Atlantic salmon to wild Pacific salmon, that infection in farmed salmon may be influencing infection rates in wild salmon, and that this may pose a risk of reduced fitness in wild salmon impacting their survival and reproduction.

Read more on Morton's blog: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2017/11/higher-virus-infection-rates-in-wild-salmon-exposed-to-fish-farms-broughton-archipelago-and-discovery-islands-most-heavi.html.

Fish Farm Diseases in BC - Wild Salmon Catch Fish Farm Diseases, Too

Here is a good article that summarizes the various diseases in fish farms in BC: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16304390. Wild Pacific salmon, that fish farms like to call feral fish - as though that makes them illegitimate - can catch fish farm diseases. Let me sigh and remind everyone, that this, as well as all fish farms problems, can be solved by putting them on land. This is so easy, and despite the fact that Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood claim it can't be done, I have found more than 170 different on-land systems, comprising almost 20,000 on-land farms around the world.

Fish farms want to be in the ocean to use them as a free, open sewer, that is all.

It will take you fifteen minutes to read this article and I suggest you do so, as it is a good one-stop take on PRV, HSMI, IHN, ISA, SLV, sea lice and so on.

The disease that I want to feature here - though it is not more serious than the others, far from it - is IHN, that has caused three epidemics in farmed fish over the last two decades. We have paid many millions of dollars to fish farms for their diseased, dead fish, so they can grow more and kill wild salmon. We don't want to pay. (See the indexes in the Feb 1, 2017 post on the most popular posts in Jan 2017, for the links).

Please note that one of these epidemics killed more than 12 million farmed salmon.

Here is some text from the article:

"IHNV is a rhabdovirus. Endemic to the Pacific Northwest, it has spread to Asia and Europe through movement of infected salmon eggs (OIE, 2009). IHNV is an internationally notifiable disease as per the World Organisation for Animal Health [76].

The IHN virus was first reported in BC Sockeye Salmon over 50 years ago, but was considered a freshwater disease [84]. Detection of IHNV in seawater-phase Sockeye Salmon is uncommon [95]. The virus is known to have a devastating impact on Sockeye Salmon [71], with greatest susceptibility occurring in juvenile salmon [101], OIE, 2009) where 50 – 95% mortality can occur [57] and [94].

Atlantic Salmon are acutely vulnerable to IHN and once infected, will carry higher IHN virus titres than Sockeye Salmon [60], which suggests Atlantic Salmon shed higher concentrations of IHNV than wild salmon. There have been three IHN outbreaks reported in the BC salmon farming industry [85] and [89] in 1992-6, 2001-3, and 2012."

And:

"The 1992–1996 epizootic occurred in the Discovery Islands where it spread to 14 farms within an 11 km radius. The genetic homogeneity of the virus was specific to the farmed, but not the adjacent wild fish, and the outbreak ended abruptly with the onset of an area management plan suggesting that farm-to-farm transmission, not repeat infection from wild fish, sustained this outbreak [89]."

And: 

"The 2001–2003 epizootic also began with a single farm in the Discovery Islands. Genetic sequencing was used to trace the virus's spread to 32 salmon farms across the southern half of the BC coastline, including 81% of the farms in the Discovery Islands [85]. In addition to farm-to-farm transmission, juvenile Atlantic Salmon became infected as they were transported through the Discovery Islands aboard a vessel pumping raw seawater through the fish holding tanks. Farms along the route of this vessel, off Port Hardy (Fig. 2), became infected, as did the receiving farms on the Central Coast and in the Broughton Archipelago, where the virus resumed its farm-to-farm spread."

And this stunner:

"[30] reported that vaccinating farm salmon for IHN reduces downstream farm infection by only 31%, and that a vaccinated site will contaminate the entire width of Discovery Island waterways for over 30 km."

The article does not go on to list the same kind of information from the 2012 infection, but both Cermaq, in Clayoquot Sound and Grieg Seafood in the Powell River area had IHN in this infection, both of which were compensated for their diseased dead fish by us, the taxpayers of Canada, through the CFIA. Look at the Feb 1, 2017 Most Popular Posts of Jan 2017, for the indexes that will take you to the half dozen posts I have done, and their links for your follow-up, on the total payments for ISA we have made across Canada. 

The total paid, just for ISA, is $177 Million that we taxpayers paid to foreign multi-national multi-billion dollar corporations, as well as some Canadian ones in Atlantic Canada.

We don't want to pay, so let's put fish farms on land or they can go back to Norway, where their own government is so fed up with their lice, diseases and sewage, it is giving out free licences to set up on land, a $9 to $12 million subsidy, based on the auction price for a saltwater licence. Note that the saltwater licences are so expensive because they are goldmines for an industry with a 23- to 25% profit margin.

ISAV in BC - But DFO, CFIA and BCMAL Can't Find Disease, Updated Jan 29, 2017

This is the article that has found the worst fish farm disease ISAV - infectious salmon anemia virus - in BC, Canada. Subsequently, the BC testing system, DFO and the CFIA all protested it wasn't true, but Virology journal dismissed these claims. And, of course, you will recall that DFO and the CFIA colluded to find a testing system that would return no disease in BC, and decided the BC testing system would be the best to let a contract with in 2016. This is fraudulent, Justin and Dominic.

Note that the CFIA used the Atlantic Canada ISA variant and found no disease, but this just shows the CFIA made an error in all their testing, because the ISAV in BC is from Norway, meaning Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood are the recipients of eggs from Europe.

Here is the article: https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-015-0459-1.

Here is the abstract:

"Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) virus (ISAV) belongs to the genus Isavirus, family Orthomyxoviridae. ISAV occurs in two basic genotypes, North American and European. The European genotype is more widespread and shows greater genetic variation and greater virulence variation than the North American genotype. To date, all of the ISAV isolates from the clinical disease, ISA, have had deletions in the highly polymorphic region (HPR) on ISAV segment 6 (ISAV-HPRΔ) relative to ISAV-HPR0, named numerically from ISAV-HPR1 to over ISAV-HPR30. ISA outbreaks have only been reported in farmed Atlantic salmon, although ISAV has been detected by RT-PCR in wild fish. It is recognized that asymptomatically ISAV-infected fish exist. There is no universally accepted ISAV RT-qPCR TaqMan® assay. Most diagnostic laboratories use the primer-probe set targeting a 104 bp-fragment on ISAV segment 8. Some laboratories and researchers have found a primer-probe set targeting ISAV segment 7 to be more sensitive. Other researchers have published different ISAV segment 8 primer-probe sets that are highly sensitive."

They tested more than 1100 fish - both farmed (bought at market - because fish farms have to give their agreement for farmed fish to be tested), and wild Pacific salmon, a very grave finding.

Here are the results:

"Seventy-nine samples were “non-negative” with at least one of these tests in one or more replicates. The ISAV segment 6 HPR sequences from the PCR products matched ISAV variants, HPR5 on 29 samples, one sample had both HPR5 and HPR7b and one matched HPR0. All sequences were of European genotype. In addition, alignment of sequences of the conventional PCR product segment 8 showed they had a single nucleotide mutation in the region of the probe sequence and a 9-nucleotide overlap with the reverse primer sequence of the real time RT-qPCR assay. None of the classical ISAV segment 8 sequences in the GenBank have this mutation in the probe-binding site of the assay, suggesting the presence of a novel ISAV variant in BC. A phylogenetic tree of these sequences showed that some ISAV sequences diverted early from the classical European genotype sequences, while others have evolved separately. All virus isolation attempts on the samples were negative, and thus the samples were considered “negative” in terms of the threshold trigger set for Canadian federal regulatory action; i.e., successful virus isolation in cell culture."

Note that the final sentence deals with the semantic issue of there can be ISA viruses, but not ISAV disease, if the strain cannot be grown in isolation. The problem is that the virus never was in BC and now is shown to be here, a result of egg imports from Norway, etc.

Of course, all we BC residents care about is the wild fish, and thus these are extremely disappointing results, and none of DFO, CFIA and BCMAl are willing to say the virus is in BC. The problem with that is that it takes an outbreak of disease that floods BC wild salmon water with trillions of virus particles every day.

Fish farms like to say, 'there is no disease', but when disease is discovered, they say, 'golly gee, I guess we have ISAV, and we'll just have to learn to live with it.' This ignores the point that it is the wild fish we care about, and fish farms should have all been on land decades ago to avoid killing real fish.

These are the results from the article:

"This is the first published report of the detection of ISAV sequences in fish from British Columbia, Canada. The sequences detected, both of ISAV-HPRΔ and ISAV-HPR0 are of European genotype. These sequences are different from the classical ISAV segment 8 sequences, and this difference suggests the presence of a new ISAV variant of European genotype in BC. Our results further suggest that ISAV-HPRΔ strains can be present without clinical disease in farmed fish and without being detected by virus isolation using fish cell lines."

But the government still carries on with its conflict of interest with fish farms saying the disease is not here. The problem is the government, and the reasons are above: they couldn't find ISA (and PRV, ie., HSMI); they have colluded not to find it, and they let a contract with the BC MAL system only because they felt sure that it would not find disease. 

Are you listening Trudeau and LeBlanc? Or is Ottawa too far away from the billion or more Pacific basin wild salmon?

ISA, Fish Farms Must be Removed from Ocean - BC First Nations Tell DFO, Hunter Tootoo, Updated Jan 24, 2016

Like other aboriginals in the world, the Norwegian Sami, for instance, Canadian First Nations want fish farms out of the BC ocean and put on land - or they can go back to Norway and set up on land because the Norwegian government is so fed up with their environmental damage, it is handing out free licences to get Marine Harvest, Cermaq, and Grieg Seafood out of the ocean; this is a $9 to $12-million subsidy, an amount greater than the on-land Namgis fish farm cost in BC - $7.6 Million. It's cheap to be on land in BC.

All British Columbians want fish farms out of the ocean or they can go back to Norway and set up on land there.

In their own words:

Press Release
January 14, 2016
Ocean Fish Farms – ISAV Virus Detected
Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance
www.farmed-salmon-boycott.com

Ocean Fish Farms – ISA Virus Bombs?

News of the first published evidence that a European variant of the infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) is present in British Columbia is extremely disturbing.  The peer-reviewed study was published in the Virology Journal, a scientific publication from BioMed Central, a leading academic open access publisher in the areas of biology, medicine and health.  Co-author Dr. Rick Routledge said that the potential of the ISA virus to be contributing to widespread decline in sockeye salmon populations must not be taken lightly.  Dr. Alexandra Morton, independent biologist with Raincoast Research Society, stated, “This work gives B.C. and our U.S. neighbors the opportunity to avoid tragic consequences.”

“I’m so glad to see this paper finally published. I produced a documentary about exactly this issue in 2013 called Salmon Confidential which documents evidence of dangerous European salmon viruses including ISAV which have been introduced to our wild Pacific salmon through farmed Atlantic salmon eggs imported from Europe ,” added filmmaker Twyla Roscovich. "The film is free to view online for anyone interested in the backstory.”

River First Nations titleholders have never given their consent to have fish farms sited on the migration routes of Fraser River wild salmon, and have made clear their opposition to ocean fish farms for many years.  “We see too many wild salmon in our nets with open sores. Some look good on the outside but when we open them, we find numerous white and green balls that look like cancer cells. We burn these fish instead of throwing them back in the environment so the bears, eagles and other wild life don’t get sick. We witnessed too many pre-spawn deaths. This study adds to our grave concerns about fish farms, and they must be removed from the ocean,” asserted Shane John, a Katz First Nation fisher.

The Ahousaht First Nation made the historic decision in 2015 to have a fish farm removed from their territory.  “By not allowing this fish farm in our territory, we gave the wild salmon of the Atleo river a fighting chance to survive, and we protected nearby clam beds to feed future generations,” said Lennie John of Ahousaht First Nation.  “To me, this study reconfirms fish farms don’t belong in the ocean,” Lennie added.

This study warrants a call to action by all stakeholders. We must send a strong message to both the federal and provincial governments that we can no longer tolerate the ocean fish farm industry continuing to play Russian roulette with our endangered wild salmon.  Too much is at stake.  Business as usual expansion must stop. Open-net fish farms could very well be ticking virus bombs, and raises the spectre of wild salmon vanishing, with devastating consequences for biodiversity and the wild salmon economy.

To prevent this, we need to honor the precautionary principle by removing open-net fish farms from the ocean.  An emerging land-based aquaculture industry, properly regulated, would be a sustainable alternative to ocean fish farms, a solution whose time has come.  Government regulations protecting wild salmon from all industrial harm is also imperative.

Media Contact:

Eddie Gardner, Wild Sdalmon Defenders Alliance Coordinator

604-792-0867

singingbear@telus.net

***

Now, go and look at the 127 on-land fish farm systems I have found around the world, comprising more than 10,000 actual on land fish farms: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/key-document-34-mostly-on-land-closed.html. It is past the tipping point for fish farms.

Now, go and read my article on my other reasons for coming to the conclusion that we are past the tipping point with getting fish farms out of the oceans they use as free, open sewers: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/12/key-document-tipping-point-goodbye-in.html.