Anemia Strain Detected In Wild BC Salmon Is European; "No Country Has Ever Gotten Rid Of" Virus

[hatrack]

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Richard Routledge, an environmental scientist at the university who leads the sockeye study, suggested the virus had spread from the province's aquaculture industry, which has imported millions of Atlantic salmon eggs over the past 25 years, primarily from Iceland and Scandinavia. He acknowledged no direct evidence of that link existed, but noted the two fish had tested positive for the European strain of infectious salmon anemia.

The virus could have "a devastating impact" not only on the region's farmed and wild salmon but on the many species that depend on them in the food web, such as grizzly bears, killer whales and wolves, Routledge said. "No country has ever gotten rid of it once it arrives," he said in a statement.

The only barrier between the salmon farms and wild fish is a net, Routledge noted at the news conference, opening the way for "pathogens sweeping in and out." No vaccine or treatment exists for infectious salmon anemia.

Gary Marty, the fish pathologist for the province's Ministry of Agriculture, said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency would seek fish samples from the researchers and run its own tests.

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2016533103_salmon18.html