Today I received reports from two laboratories.
Dr. Are Nylund at the University of Bergen, Norway confirmed the ISA virus detection by Canadian lab, Dr. Fred Kibenge, in Rivers Inlet sockeye smolts. Dr. Nylund reports he only got a positive in one of the fish and this result was close to the detection limit for the test that he used. In the report below, the higher the value, the lower the amount of virus. He said the sample was poor quality. We are on a steep learning curve here, having never dealt with viruses, keeping the samples in a home-type freezer was not optimal.
Download Report 021111.pdf (22.0K)
I also received the report from Dr. Kibenge, of the World Animal Health reference lab for ISA virus in Province Edward Island, on salmon a small group of us collected in the Fraser River on October 12. Late last week results from this group of tests was leaked to the New York Times and we heard that a Coho salmon tested positive for ISAv. Now that I have the complete report we learn that, similar to the sockeye from River’s Inlet, the Coho in the Fraser River was infected with the European strain of ISA virus. But we see from this report that a chinook salmon and a chum salmon also tested positive.
Download Alexandra Morton Samples (SOCKEYE CHINOOK and COHO)_VT10142001_OCTOBER20 2011.pdf (45.9K)
What does this mean?
While this continues to raise the level of concern that ISA virus is going to cause significant problems in wild salmon in the eastern Pacific, a lot more work is required. Someone has to culture the virus. Once that happens we can learn how long it has been here, and exactly where it came from.
The good news is that the levels of ISA virus detected in all these salmon has been low. While the salmon in my latest collection died before spawning, it is possible that ISA virus was not the cause of their death. Because ISA virus was only detected in the gills of the chum and chinook, it is possible they were only recently infected. The chum was silver-bright and likely just arrived in the river. The Chinook was severely jaundice. Did these two fish just become infected and is that why it was only detected in their gills? Two possible sources would be salmon farms off Campbell River that they had just been exposed to on their in-migration into the river, or did they become infected by sharing the river with the Coho which had ISA virus in her heart suggesting a more system-wide longer infection period – I don’t know. The Segment 6 probe is less sensitive than the segment 8 probe, so while we learned the Chinook and Chum were infected with ISA virus, we don’t know what strain.
If the virus is this contagious that it infected other salmon that had just arrived into the river this does present concerns.
I am not presenting myself as an expert in ISA virus, but I feel strongly there should be no secrecy when it comes to European strain ISA virus in wild salmon. I am on a steep learning curve and feel it is essential that we move forward to:
1 – establish an international board to make sure testing is done in a highly and scientifically defensible manner
2 – establish a BC lab that can culture and test for ISA virus and report publicly
3 – test widely for the virus in the ocean, rivers and lakes and include other possible species such as herring
4 – mandate tests on every Atlantic salmon facility, especially the lake-rearing facilities by more than one lab so that no one lab bears the brunt of this and so the public can take full confidence in the tests
There has been an incredible response from many of you. So many of you have provided funds in small donations that we are able to move forward with revealing where ISA virus is hiding. Thank you. Thank you also for the people reporting back as to what is happening in your rivers and lakes. I am not at all interested in handing this over to Fisheries and Oceans, nor the Province of BC. I have asked the provincial salmon farm vet, Dr. Gary Marty several times what ISA virus test he did on all the Atlantic salmon he found ISAv lesions in. He has not answered, he had the province of BC’s lawyer answer instead providing me with no information. I was hoping I could send samples to him, but I won’t without knowing what test he is doing.
There is an astonishing silence from government. How is it possible they have never found ISA virus?
I think we need to step into this void and seriously apply ourselves to understanding what is going on here. I don’t know why we would leave this up to DFO.
Fraser Coho infected with European ISA virus
Harrison White Spring with ISA virus
Comments
7 responses to “More European ISA virus detected in wild BC salmon”
My question for the Cohen Commission counsel would be:
Are you prepared to enter into evidence the various recent ISA findings and have Commissioner Cohen review this when he frames his final report?
It seems to me that much of the DFO testimony is now stale-dated and some is clearly in error.
The ISA results also point out the dichotomy (which surfaced several times in the Cohen Commission evidence) that there is a difference between legal standards of evidence and scientific standards of evidence.
I am left with the curious impression that ISA does not exist in BC on purely legal standards of evidence yet the scientific evidence is developing rapidly that it does exist.
-30-
It just makes me so sad. There are no salmon in the Bessette this year – at least not yet. 30 salmon last year – we saw them – it was a miracle. I am just so so sad. I wish you all the best to get the farms out of the ocean. Thank you for all you have done and all that you take on right now.
Dear Alexandra.
This is very alarming.
A jaundiced salmon is jaundiced as a result of red blood cell breakdown(thus anaemia-a low red cell count) where the liver cant keep up anymore. The yellow discolouration usually gets excreted in the feces-hence the brown colour(we are continually breaking down red cells-something the liver deals with on a daily basis). When the liver cant keep up due to rapid breakdown of red cells it buids up and gets concentrated in the blood and then pigments the skin and tissues.
If the vet cant give a good reason why the fish is jaundiced then it is not unreasonable to assume the most likely the cause is the virus.
There are thousands of pages of text and evidence at the Cohen Commission.
I am unable to find any text among those volumes that shows if the various DFO scientists ever tested the sea lice themselves for the ISA virus. If there is no connection, the tests would have eliminated this scenario.
What is the evidence?
-30-
Further to my earlier post, I checked a reliable but slightly dated Scottish report.
A CODE OF PRACTICE TO AVOID AND MINIMISE THE IMPACT OF INFECTIOUS SALMON ANAEMIA (ISA)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Uploads/Documents/ISACodeofPractice.pdf
The quote is:
” Sea lice. Sea lice of both species (Lepeophtheirus salmonis and Caligus elongatus) have been demonstrated to transfer ISAV infection. The mobility of pre-adult and adult sea lice is well known and there may be a significant risk of transmitting ISA between sites.”
So why was this not checked by the DFO in both BC and the Maritimes?
-30-
Dear Alex
In my eyes you are a hero. I thank you for your efforts from the bottom of my heart.
The “cat is now out of the bag” I am afraid. Revealing the truth and doing something about are two different things.
Follow the money Alex.
Thats how to bust this thing wide open. It’s the money trail. There is absolutely no other explanation for the gross incompetance of senior DFO management. Somewhere, somehow there is money flowing from Norway into pockets here we don’t know about. Find it and its over and the good guys win, and more importantly our salmon and all else that is dear to us here on the west coast. The time is now as the Americans have stepped up and they are about to make a lot of noise. Today’s news is a possible godsend for our wild salmon. This is about to get ugly.
Find the money trail Alex. Its there somewhere waiting for you to find it.
Peace my Dear
Jim Anderson
I saw two chrome, silver coho today in the nanaimo river that had died without spawning(one was still alive but very near death). Was in a hurry to go to work so couldn’t take a closer look. They looked in excellent condition with no obvious marks.