Dixon Bay Mainstream farm. (Photo: Alexandra Morton)

Third fish farm quarantined over virus concerns

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has quarantined a second Mainstream Canada farm. This makes for three quarantined salmon farms in the province of British Columbia in just two weeks over fears about the presence of haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHN).

Mainstream Canada said this farm is located at Bawden Point off the west coast of Vancouver Island, north of Tofino. CFIA made the move after tests results gave a "low-positive" result for IHN, The Canadian Press reports.

The first quarantine was two weeks ago also at a Mainstream farm north of Tofino. The firm was forced to destroy more than 560,000 juvenile Atlantic salmon.

In addition, CFIA quarantined a farm owned by Grieg Seafood for the same reason. The company announced on Friday that independent laboratory tests for IHN at a farm on the Sunshine Coast came back negative.

"There has been that weak positive at that second farm, Bawden, and it requires additional testing," said Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA). "They're not currently seeing any related mortalities."

Anti-salmon farming activist Alexandra Morton, however, wants the companies to give the test results, the actual sequence data and the strain of IHN either to her or to First Nations for testing.

"They have a serious problem on their hands," she stated. "I think they're out of control."

Mainstream said that even if a positive result comes back for the virus on their farm, it will still plan to harvest Atlantic salmon from Bawden Point "as soon as possible" because the fish will be ready for market and will not be dangerous to human health, Vancouver Sun reports.

No fish have died at Bawden from the disease, according to Mainstream Canada's Managing Director Fernando Villarroel.

"I was happy to see how well our viral management plans worked, despite how painful it was for us having to cull Dixon," said Villarroel. "The process was as smooth as it could be under the circumstances."

CFIA has clarified that IHN does not pose a risk to human health and is found in wild fish in the Pacific Ocean. The virus can kill young finfish raised in freshwater hatcheries, juveniles recently introduced to the sea and older finfish raised in sea water.

The virus is spread via contaminated equipment and contaminated water and vaccines are available to prevent the disease, CFIA said.

Walling said test results for IHN have come back negative for 30 salmon farms; another 21 samples await processing.

She added that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has also sampled farms as part of its routine testing and obtained negative results.

Related articles:

- CFIA quarantines another salmon farm in BC
- Mainstream starts depopulating farm after detecting IHNv

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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