Lethal Atlantic salmon virus found on the West Coast
- Thread starter Tonington
- Start date
Still lacking functional knowledge of fisheries, fish biology, and microbiology; a defining characteristic of you and your ilk.
Not fair. OK I have a reasonable knowledge of west coast fisheries but I don't know jack **** about biology or microbiology either. Thats why we have you. Difference is I know BS when I see it and billy and the ecoterrorists have a barn yard or two full.
Can we not send some unemployed people out in boats with little nets to catch the virus and send it back to the Atlantic???
or something?
Or let it catch a ride with MacKay in his personal chopper, back to the Atlantic. Jeez, hope our defensive (and very offensive) con don't fall out. How would ya throw a buncha poison containment things around all that sh it?............even on a calm day.,
or something?
Or let it catch a ride with MacKay in his personal chopper, back to the Atlantic. Jeez, hope our defensive (and very offensive) con don't fall out. How would ya throw a buncha poison containment things around all that sh it?............even on a calm day.,
Ahh, well here's the kicker. Earlier I said I had reason to be angry with DFO. Turns out that ISA has been found before, back in 2002. The researcher was doing a post-Doc with DFO, and she found ISA in fish as far away as Alaska. From her data, she concluded that it looks like the Pacific salmon may have their own natural ISA virus that is atypical, and produces no symptoms. If that is indeed the case, it would explain why the farmed salmon have not died from it. Norwegian ISA would have wiped out most of the farms.
Like true sycophants everywhere you two love the taste of each other's bathwater-call it champagne do you?
Do you have anything else but one liners? It sure doesn't look like you do...
The story gets murkier & murkier-how long before the usual suspect posts here that's there's nothing to worry about and that science had it a figured out long ago/money is god and don't worry you slobbering drooling peasants
Salmon virus in B.C. for decades, say biologists
Department of Fisheries (DFO) biologists have told a federal inquiry that fish samples, dating back more than two decades have tested positive for a virus potentially lethal to wild sockeye salmon — but that fact wasn't publicly reported.
Dr. Kristi Miller, the head of molecular genetics for DFO in Nanaimo, told the Cohen Commission on Thursday that frozen samples dating back to 1986 have been tested, and show infectious salmon anemia (ISA) has been in B.C. waters for at least 25 years.
The public inquiry into the decline of the Fraser River sockeye salmon stocks was extended for three extra days after ISA was detected in wild B.C. salmon two months ago by Simon Fraser University Prof. Rick Routledge.
That revelation put the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and B.C.'s fish farming industry on high alert, but those results couldn't be confirmed and government scientists announced earlier this month that extensive testing came up negative.
The alleged presence of ISA in B.C. salmon stocks is controversial because the virus had never before been found in salmon off B.C.'s coast, either in the Atlantic species that are farmed in ocean pens or in B.C.'s indigenous wild salmon.
The virus is known to be devastating to farmed Atlantic salmon and opponents of the fish farm industry have suggested farmed fish could spread ISA to wild stocks, with catastrophic results.
The virus has been linked to the destruction of the salmon farming industry in Chile and Europe.
The crisis has prompted the Canada Food Inspection Agency to develop a regular surveillance program for ISA, that is expected to be in place as early as next spring.
Salmon virus in B.C. for decades, say biologists
Department of Fisheries (DFO) biologists have told a federal inquiry that fish samples, dating back more than two decades have tested positive for a virus potentially lethal to wild sockeye salmon — but that fact wasn't publicly reported.
Dr. Kristi Miller, the head of molecular genetics for DFO in Nanaimo, told the Cohen Commission on Thursday that frozen samples dating back to 1986 have been tested, and show infectious salmon anemia (ISA) has been in B.C. waters for at least 25 years.
The public inquiry into the decline of the Fraser River sockeye salmon stocks was extended for three extra days after ISA was detected in wild B.C. salmon two months ago by Simon Fraser University Prof. Rick Routledge.
That revelation put the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and B.C.'s fish farming industry on high alert, but those results couldn't be confirmed and government scientists announced earlier this month that extensive testing came up negative.
The alleged presence of ISA in B.C. salmon stocks is controversial because the virus had never before been found in salmon off B.C.'s coast, either in the Atlantic species that are farmed in ocean pens or in B.C.'s indigenous wild salmon.
The virus is known to be devastating to farmed Atlantic salmon and opponents of the fish farm industry have suggested farmed fish could spread ISA to wild stocks, with catastrophic results.
The virus has been linked to the destruction of the salmon farming industry in Chile and Europe.
The crisis has prompted the Canada Food Inspection Agency to develop a regular surveillance program for ISA, that is expected to be in place as early as next spring.
So what are they actually detecting with those PCR tests? ISA grows in cell culture. That's how we get our antigens for vaccines...but nobody can grow ISA from these samples.
Some people would actually like to know. The anti-farm activists don't seem to care.
Some people would actually like to know. The anti-farm activists don't seem to care.
Another development that comes as no surprise to those of us who regard Salmon feedlots as biological and environmental abominations-the Norwegians appear to have DFO in their pocket.Note that feedlots have been instrumental in the destruction of Norwegian Salmon stocks
Government email makes waves at salmon inquiry
A government email describing a potentially lethal fish virus as a public relations problem has caused a stir at a federal inquiry in Vancouver.
The federally appointed Cohen Commission was called two years ago to examine what caused the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye.
The suggestion that an influenza-like virus had penetrated B.C. waters came just as the 21-month inquiry was wrapping up, prompting the commissioner to hold three more days of hearings.
On Friday, the federal inquiry heard from an expert in infectious salmon anemia (ISA) who detected the virus in a handful of B.C. fish earlier this year, setting off a chain of alarm bells throughout the government and the West Coast salmon industry.
Fred Kibenge, who runs a prestigious lab on the East Coast, detected the virus in two of 48 sockeye smolts, and the results of his work were widely publicized in October.
The ISA virus has infected and killed millions of fish in Chile, and is believed to have originated in Norway where its own stocks were devastated.
'Turning the PR tide'
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) immediately set about retesting Kibenge's samples, and told the media several weeks later they had found no evidence of the virus.
When news media made that the headline the next day, officials celebrated in a private email that has now been made public.
"It is clear that we are turning the PR tide in our favour, and this is because of the very successful performance of our spokes at the tech briefing," CFIA B.C. manager Joseph Beres wrote.
"One battle is won, now we have to nail the surveillance piece, and we will win the war, also."
Lawyer Don Rosenbloom, who represents two groups of commercial fishermen at the inquiry, isn't buying it.
"One gets the impression they see themselves at war with parties that are pursuing the best interest of the public," he said. "I think it's ridiculous."
While food inspection managers touted the results of their tests, Fisheries and Oceans officials testified the samples they used were so degraded, the results were unreliable.
Discrediting scientists
Kibenge and another Canadian scientist also told the federal inquiry they feared their reputations were being threatened after discovering signs of ISA in B.C. salmon.
The revelation triggered an assessment of Kibenge's independent lab at the University of Prince Edward Island by inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. It's one of only two such labs for the virus in the world.
Kibenge told the federal commission in Vancouver on Friday that the way officials behaved led him to believe they were aiming to discredit his work.
"Based on the questioning I got, I sensed that the interest here was to confirm my result was the result of contamination," he said while under cross-examination.
"The second point was that probably I was doing shoddy science."
In the past several weeks, additional research has surfaced that potentially identifies the virus' presence as far back as 2002.
'Most feared threat to aquaculture'
At the inquiry, Kibenge said he felt he was being pressured, even though he considered his science to be "above question."
Sockeye salmon waiting for access to spawning grounds in Scotch Creek, British Columbia. (Matt Casselman)
"Because aquaculture is a business, of course, the virus or the pathogen ... is a problem," he said. "As far as I know, the spread of diseases is the most feared threat to aquaculture."
But in later testimony, Fisheries official Peter Wright, who manages the national aquatic animal health laboratory system, said the assessment wasn't seeking to discredit Kibenge.
He said its goal was to figure out why Kibenge's test results came up positive when examination of the same fish in the government's own lab did not.
During an earlier hearing, a second scientist who works in a lab based in Nanaimo, B.C., was questioned about her own experiences with federal officials.
Findings investigated
Molecular geneticist Kristi Miller, who runs a research lab for the Fisheries Department in Nanaimo, B.C., told the commission on Thursday she has been "alienated" within the department.
She said that began in late November when she revealed to superiors she, too, had detected the virus in B.C. salmon.
On Thursday, a lawyer for the commission asked a panel of three government officials whether Miller's findings are a "game-changer."
No, it just requires further investigation, was the answer from Stephen Stephen, the director to whom Miller reported her findings.
"Although it may have merit," added his colleague Wright, as he pointed out Miller is using a different testing technique. "It needs to be proven."
Kim Klotins, who was appearing on behalf of the food inspection agency, added the agency has already begun a process of investigating Miller's findings. She said staff have run initial tests, which did not corroborate the results.
The virus found was 95 per cent similar to its European strain, Miller said. A North American strain has previously been detected in Atlantic Canada.
CFIA seizes samples
Miller also noted yet another researcher, Prof. Rick Routledge of Simon Fraser University, came under scrutiny after he made Kibenge's initial results public. Routledge had collected the fish and sent them to the P.E.I. lab for testing.
She said the CFIA removed all samples from Routledge's freezer, meaning his work could not continue.
She said Stephen told her she shouldn't conduct research if she didn't understand its potential "ramifications."
That, along with what happened to Routledge's samples, caused her to feel "some level of intimidation," she told the commission.
Miller's lab is funded by the government to conduct research on fish pathogens. She found the evidence of infectious salmon anaemia in the course of that work.
Evidence of ISA dates back 25 years
Miller has told the inquiry she's not clear whether the virus she discovered causes disease, but she noted there appeared to be some signs of damage in the fish.
But that virus isn't her greatest concern, she said.
She testified she has also found signs of another virus unknown in Canadian fish that causes a condition called heart and skeletal muscle inflammation. She said those results from migrating wild sockeye salmon came back in early testing, and have not yet been shared with officials or been made public.
Kibenge and Miller are among four expert fish scientists who have told the inquiry there is varying evidence the ISA virus may be carried in B.C. salmon, with some findings dating back 25 years.
The scientists say more research is required to know whether it could be a health risk for wild Pacific salmon.
The inquiry's final report is due by the end of June.
Government email makes waves at salmon inquiry
A government email describing a potentially lethal fish virus as a public relations problem has caused a stir at a federal inquiry in Vancouver.
The federally appointed Cohen Commission was called two years ago to examine what caused the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye.
The suggestion that an influenza-like virus had penetrated B.C. waters came just as the 21-month inquiry was wrapping up, prompting the commissioner to hold three more days of hearings.
On Friday, the federal inquiry heard from an expert in infectious salmon anemia (ISA) who detected the virus in a handful of B.C. fish earlier this year, setting off a chain of alarm bells throughout the government and the West Coast salmon industry.
Fred Kibenge, who runs a prestigious lab on the East Coast, detected the virus in two of 48 sockeye smolts, and the results of his work were widely publicized in October.
The ISA virus has infected and killed millions of fish in Chile, and is believed to have originated in Norway where its own stocks were devastated.
'Turning the PR tide'
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) immediately set about retesting Kibenge's samples, and told the media several weeks later they had found no evidence of the virus.
When news media made that the headline the next day, officials celebrated in a private email that has now been made public.
"It is clear that we are turning the PR tide in our favour, and this is because of the very successful performance of our spokes at the tech briefing," CFIA B.C. manager Joseph Beres wrote.
"One battle is won, now we have to nail the surveillance piece, and we will win the war, also."
Lawyer Don Rosenbloom, who represents two groups of commercial fishermen at the inquiry, isn't buying it.
"One gets the impression they see themselves at war with parties that are pursuing the best interest of the public," he said. "I think it's ridiculous."
While food inspection managers touted the results of their tests, Fisheries and Oceans officials testified the samples they used were so degraded, the results were unreliable.
Discrediting scientists
Kibenge and another Canadian scientist also told the federal inquiry they feared their reputations were being threatened after discovering signs of ISA in B.C. salmon.
The revelation triggered an assessment of Kibenge's independent lab at the University of Prince Edward Island by inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. It's one of only two such labs for the virus in the world.
Kibenge told the federal commission in Vancouver on Friday that the way officials behaved led him to believe they were aiming to discredit his work.
"Based on the questioning I got, I sensed that the interest here was to confirm my result was the result of contamination," he said while under cross-examination.
"The second point was that probably I was doing shoddy science."
In the past several weeks, additional research has surfaced that potentially identifies the virus' presence as far back as 2002.
'Most feared threat to aquaculture'
At the inquiry, Kibenge said he felt he was being pressured, even though he considered his science to be "above question."
Sockeye salmon waiting for access to spawning grounds in Scotch Creek, British Columbia. (Matt Casselman)
"Because aquaculture is a business, of course, the virus or the pathogen ... is a problem," he said. "As far as I know, the spread of diseases is the most feared threat to aquaculture."
But in later testimony, Fisheries official Peter Wright, who manages the national aquatic animal health laboratory system, said the assessment wasn't seeking to discredit Kibenge.
He said its goal was to figure out why Kibenge's test results came up positive when examination of the same fish in the government's own lab did not.
During an earlier hearing, a second scientist who works in a lab based in Nanaimo, B.C., was questioned about her own experiences with federal officials.
Findings investigated
Molecular geneticist Kristi Miller, who runs a research lab for the Fisheries Department in Nanaimo, B.C., told the commission on Thursday she has been "alienated" within the department.
She said that began in late November when she revealed to superiors she, too, had detected the virus in B.C. salmon.
On Thursday, a lawyer for the commission asked a panel of three government officials whether Miller's findings are a "game-changer."
No, it just requires further investigation, was the answer from Stephen Stephen, the director to whom Miller reported her findings.
"Although it may have merit," added his colleague Wright, as he pointed out Miller is using a different testing technique. "It needs to be proven."
Kim Klotins, who was appearing on behalf of the food inspection agency, added the agency has already begun a process of investigating Miller's findings. She said staff have run initial tests, which did not corroborate the results.
The virus found was 95 per cent similar to its European strain, Miller said. A North American strain has previously been detected in Atlantic Canada.
CFIA seizes samples
Miller also noted yet another researcher, Prof. Rick Routledge of Simon Fraser University, came under scrutiny after he made Kibenge's initial results public. Routledge had collected the fish and sent them to the P.E.I. lab for testing.
She said the CFIA removed all samples from Routledge's freezer, meaning his work could not continue.
She said Stephen told her she shouldn't conduct research if she didn't understand its potential "ramifications."
That, along with what happened to Routledge's samples, caused her to feel "some level of intimidation," she told the commission.
Miller's lab is funded by the government to conduct research on fish pathogens. She found the evidence of infectious salmon anaemia in the course of that work.
Evidence of ISA dates back 25 years
Miller has told the inquiry she's not clear whether the virus she discovered causes disease, but she noted there appeared to be some signs of damage in the fish.
But that virus isn't her greatest concern, she said.
She testified she has also found signs of another virus unknown in Canadian fish that causes a condition called heart and skeletal muscle inflammation. She said those results from migrating wild sockeye salmon came back in early testing, and have not yet been shared with officials or been made public.
Kibenge and Miller are among four expert fish scientists who have told the inquiry there is varying evidence the ISA virus may be carried in B.C. salmon, with some findings dating back 25 years.
The scientists say more research is required to know whether it could be a health risk for wild Pacific salmon.
The inquiry's final report is due by the end of June.
And your point? Or do you just cut & paste news articles written by journalists that have even less understanding of science than you do??
My point-which you seem to have missed in your rush to post yet another nasty waspish waste of bandwidth-is that foreign multinationals seem to have co-opted a Federal Government Department-the same department that is charged with the responsibility for keeping Canada's fisheries resources from egregious harm.
Why you refuse to see the harm is your own issue-the fact that the harm exists is just that FACT.
Read your own cut & paste. There is no proven harm just the potential. Big difference. But don't let facts stand in the way of your anti fish farm rhetoric.
There's not even proof positive that the ISA virus is in BC...they can't grow anything in cell culture...if there was virus in the samples it would grow in any number of cell lines available, like SHK (salmon head kidney) or CHSE (Chinook salmon embryo), both are salmon cell lines commonly used to culture the virus.
Even if it is in fact a virus, the fact that it doesn't grow in any established ISA protocols, let alone produce any cytopathic effects in cell culture, means it's not likely to be the same virus at all.
Seriously, if you can't infect enriched cells growing in a culture media that is deigned to be optimal for viral infection, then how the heck does anyone expect there to be a virus there capable of catastrophe? Does not compute...
Even if it is in fact a virus, the fact that it doesn't grow in any established ISA protocols, let alone produce any cytopathic effects in cell culture, means it's not likely to be the same virus at all.
Seriously, if you can't infect enriched cells growing in a culture media that is deigned to be optimal for viral infection, then how the heck does anyone expect there to be a virus there capable of catastrophe? Does not compute...
You must mean Walleye (Sander vitreus)-and Yes it is the most delicious freshwater fish I've ever tasted-and that's saying a lot.
It's good to see that the nattering nabobs of filthy lucre ridden science haven't managed to screw that resource up yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of filthy lucre I wonder who's on the take here-Canadian gubmint is in no way immune to the appeal of envelopes o' cash and the Norwegians have plenty to spread around.
A cynical person could say the feedlot apology industry are braying harder than ever-not only is their iron rice bowl starting to show cracks but non industry types-rank strangers as it were-are being brought in to feed the flames of disinformation!
Tomorrow AM look for 'informed comment' from 'knowledgeable people' on the net as those grey drones shuffle into their drear little offices and once again start to throw sh!t-hoping against hope that some will stick to someone somewhere-a classic description of sad little men.
Disinformation? Like claiming ISA is in BC, when it hasn't actually been confirmed? False positives can be from improper quality control of samples or even some other nucleotide from a body other than the organism the PCR test is developed for.
PCR isn't even the gold standard. Do you know what a gold standard is? It's the one test that is the best available diagnostic. In some cases there is no best available test.
Anti-farm activists are pro at spreading disinformation...
PCR isn't even the gold standard. Do you know what a gold standard is? It's the one test that is the best available diagnostic. In some cases there is no best available test.
Anti-farm activists are pro at spreading disinformation...
You're starting to sound rather nervous-as though you were in the middle of an ice covered lake in spring-deep cracks were showing all around you and it was a long walk to shore.....
Note that I haven't accused any feed lot whoar/scientist of taking dirty money-they don't need to since they are already bought & paid for-and for a pittance at that.
How about telling us which environmental group you are a paid shill for? Or are you blind enough to do it for free?