Biologist claims deadly disease found in British Columbia salmon

Biologist Alexandra Morton says she’s found evidence of Infectious Salmon Anemia in salmon in British Columbia, which she fears could impact populations of farmed salmon as well as harm native Pacific salmon species.

“It’s going to impact the salmon farming industry terribly and it’s a wildcard as to what it’s going to do to the wild salmon,” she says.

Morton tells KIRO Radio’s On the Water that she contacted two labs well versed in the virus, one in Canada and one in Norway to test samples of B.C. fish. She sent them wild samples and also samples taken from supermarkets as she did not have access to take samples from salmon farms.

“It’s very hard to get a farmed salmon off of a farm unless you are with the government, so I began to access them from the supermarkets,” says Morton. “Since then, some of the samples have tested positive for the ISA virus.”

But many officials disagree with Morton’s results and say there has been no evidence that ISA is in salmon in B.C.

“All laboratories that have been testing with this agree there have been no cases of the ISA in British Columbia,” says Dr. Gary Marty, a fish pathologist with the B.C. Animal Health Centre. “We test several hundred fish a year that die on the farms for that virus and those test results have consistently come back negative, no virus.”

“We’re pretty confident it’s not in here. The restrictions on moving fish are considerably more tight than say moving people back and forth so I’m pretty confident we’re not going to see ISA here for a long time as long as everyone follows the regulations in place.”

Morton says she disagrees with Dr. Marty but it’s difficult for her to officially confirm the virus is in B.C. salmon because she does not have access to salmon in farms.

“The trouble with the rules in Canada right now, and the definition of ‘confirmed,’ is you basically have to catch the virus alive. And given the type of access I don’t have to salmon farms, all we’re dealing with is pieces of the virus.”

Dr. Marty explained B.C.’s policies on who can investigate and diagnose diseases in fish.

“We have a law in British Columbia, it’s called the Veterinarian’s Act, and if you’re going to do diagnosis of disease and interpretation of the results, by law you need to be a veterinarian. So the farmers have that right to work with a licensed veterinarian and accredited veterinary diagnostic lab,” says Dr. Marty. “That means if someone who is not a veterinarian, like Alexandra Morton, wants to do research, they’re going to have to get the approval of the farms.”

Morton is also publicizing her fear that any ISA present in farmed Atlantic salmon in B.C. could be picked up by Pacific salmon. But Dr. Marty says an ISA outbreak in Chile had no impact on Coho in the area.

“The disease only affected the farmed Atlantic salmon and did not ever affect any of the Coho salmon in Chile. So that gives us an idea that this is a disease of farmed Atlantic salmon and it is not a disease of concern for Pacific salmon species.”

Morton has released a documentary called “Salmon Confidential” which covers her research and what the film calls a “government cover up of what is killing BC’s wild salmon.”

But Stewart Hawthorn, Managing Director at Grieg Seafood BC, tells On the Water the film is full of inaccuracies.

“It’s selectively edits quotes from people to make it look like they’re saying something that they aren’t. It’s full of innuendo. It’s simply misinforming people and creating fear where there shouldn’t be fear.”

But Morton continues her quest to encourage more tests and says B.C. could be headed for devastation like what happened in Chile if they ignore the potential of the disease’s presence in the area.

“This is exactly what happened in Chile. They didn’t think they had it and it ended up they did and it caused $2 billion in damage there,” says Morton. “I think it’s one of those cases where nobody wants to face that it could be here.”

Listen to the full discussion on this week’s On the Water podcast. Subscribe to KIRO Radio’s On the Water to keep up with all the Northwest boating and sea news.