Disease outbreak confirmed at seven BC salmon farms

February 14, 2002 - VANCOUVER - Seven cases of infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) virus have been confirmed at different salmon farms on the British Columbia coast, the David Suzuki Foundation has learned.

Provincial veterinarian Joanne Constantine told the Foundation on Feb. 14 that the highly contagious salmon disease has been detected at six salmon farms in the Campbell River area and one on the north coast.

“This is an environmental disaster,” says Otto Langer, the Foundation’s director of marine conservation and a former senior scientist with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“These outbreaks confirm that the industry and the provincial regulators cannot control this industry or manage the environmental impacts that will undermine the health of our coast and the health and safety of wild salmon and other species,” Mr. Langer added.

“Emergency steps must be taken to get the disease under control and all diseased fish must be disposed of in a safe manner,” he said.

On Feb. 8, the Foundation and the Musqueam Indian Band obtained a Supreme Court injunction preventing the off-loading of IHN-diseased farmed salmon at a fish plant on the Fraser River. The fish came from a Heritage Salmon Ltd. farm and were later off-loaded at a plant on Vancouver Island and are being composted at a facility in Courtenay.

On Feb. 14, the Foundation learned of an IHN outbreak at a salmon farm operated by the Kitasoo First Nation in Klemtu and Marine Harvest Ltd. Some 60,000 Atlantic salmon smolts were affected.

Constantine told Lynn Hunter, the Foundation’s aquaculture specialist, that isolation and control procedures approved by the salmon farming industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries are being implemented.

But Ms. Hunter notes that in Maine, a state legislature committee is reviewing salmon farming and is considering issuing a moratorium on the industry because of disease outbreaks there.

"Wherever salmon farms exist there are cases of serious disease outbreaks, which often affect wild fish," Ms. Hunter said. "In Maine, the state is considering putting a lid on the industry because of disease problems but the BC government is set to expand it here despite growing evidence that it is folly to do so."

Note: Provincial veterinarian Joanne Constantine can be reached at 250-897-7546.

For more information, please contact Lynn Hunter at 250-479-0937 or 250-888-1700, or Jean Kavanagh at 604-732-4228 or 604-251-5729.