Wild sockeye salmon from B.C.’s Rivers Inlet have tested positive for a potentially devastating virus that has never been found before in the North Pacific.
Infectious salmon anemia is a flu-like virus affecting Atlantic salmon that spreads very quickly and mutates easily, according to Simon Fraser University fisheries statistician Rick Routledge.
ISA can be fatal to Atlantic salmon, especially those confined in fish farms. Its effect on wild sockeye is unknown.
The virus detected in sockeye smolts by the Atlantic Veterinary College in P.E.I. — Canada’s ISA reference lab — is the European strain of ISA, the same virus that devastated fish farms in Chile four years ago.
“It is described as highly contagious and lethal,” said Routledge, who had underweight Pacific sockeye sent for testing at the suggestion of B.C. salmon biologist Alexandra Morton.
Of the 48 fish sent for testing, two were found to have the virus.
Randy Shore – Vancouver Sun – October 9, 2011
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