Canadian officials are denying that wild salmon in British Columbia are infected with a virus that has killed millions of farmed salmon in Atlantic waters.
An animal health director for British Columbia today said he is unconvinced by the evidence that two wild salmon from his Canadian province were been afflicted with infectious salmon anemia, or ISA.
“For anyone to say that infectious salmon anemia virus is present in BC is misrepresenting the science,” said Paul Kitching, director of British Columbia’s Animal Health Centre. “And I can also say that as editor and chief of an international veterinary journal, this would be considered poor science and not likely publishable in a refereed scientific journal.”
Kitching’s remarks come three weeks after lab results indicated two juvenile sockeye salmon from a river in northern British Columbia had trace trace amounts of ISA. Similar findings surfaced more recently with salmon from the Canadian province’s Fraser River.
The ISA virus has killed farmed salmon all over the world from Norway to Chile. It has cost the industry millions of dollars.
Check back here for more as EarthFix takes a look at what that statement means and how scientists are approaching the potential threat of ISA in U.S. waters.
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