Despite the concern in some circles about the recent outbreak of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) at Cooke Aquaculture’s McNutt’s Island farm in Shelburne resulting in the destruction of 100,000-plus fish from four large cages and the strict quarantine of the remaining 20 cages, the New-Brunswick-based aquaculture corporation is likely in the near future to be selling ISA-affected fish through their normal consumer channels, according to federal officials.
Although ISA is one of the most deadly and pathogenic diseases affecting Atlantic salmon grown in large “feedlot” salmon farms, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) insists that the virus is not dangerous to humans and that Cooke and other firms will be allowed to sell infected fish in supermarkets and other retail and wholesale outlets.
Jag Dhanda, CFIA national manager for disease control and mitigation, told SCT in an interview, “Since infectious salmon anaemia poses no human health or food safety risk, Cooke Aquaculture may explore processing options where available, as long as the bio-security path is insured." Because the “path” had not been established in March, the fish, according to Dhanda, “were destroyed and disposed of in accordance with provincial and municipal guidelines.” One element missing in March during the massive fish kills was the bio-security surrounding the disposal of offal from the processed fish, Dhanda added.
Cooke will not be compensated for the fish removed from the first two cages, which was done without orders from CFIA. The $500,000 million multinational Cooke will be compensated by the federal government for the “market value” of the two other cages. In the most recent large ISA outbreak in New Brunswick, Cooke and other forms were paid $75,000,000 for fish lost to ISA. ISA infections in Chile decimated that country's large salmon industry, resulting in job losses of more than 10,000 and fish kills in the hundreds of millions.
Asked if consumers would be notified about any ISA virus contained in farmed salmon, CFIA has said that “There would be no special labeling requirements,” because of the lack of “human health or food safety risk” connected with ISA.
Cooke Aquaculture has chosen not to share detailed information about its plans regarding how many fish are in any given cage site, the distribution of fish from infected pens, the number of fish and cages removed or what where the fish were distributed, saying that the information is proprietary.
Dhanda added that the facility will remain under quarantine until all fish have been removed from the site and all pens, cages, and equipment have been cleaned and disinfected, adding that the process “could take months.”
Dhanda told SCT that, based on information at hand in March, further infections at the Cooke facility are very likely, as are further demands by CFIA that Cooke remove and destroy infected fish.
On another front, other concerns have been raised about diseased fish being sold in markets in the west. In fact, a recent report from British Columbia shows that ISA-tainted fish have been reported in 44 out of 45 farm salmon purchased from local supermarkets there.
Markets throughout Vancouver tested positive for a newly identified Norwegian virus, according to the report. The piscine reovirus weakens the fish’s heart causing heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI). HSMI is considered a “major challenge” in Norway infecting over 400 farms since its symptoms first appeared in 1999. It has also spread to the U.K.
Scientists only recently identified the virus causing this disease making diagnosis possible, says the report, meaning that no screening was possible for the 30 million Atlantic salmon eggs that entered BC for fish farming prior to 2010. Detected for the first time in Chile last year, Sernapesca, the fisheries regulator, responded with “intensified preventative measures.” Reports of HSMI in Chile drove industry share values down there.
The virus reportedly spreads easily to wild fish near the pens like “wildfire”, the report added. There is no information on how it affects wild Pacific or Atlantic salmon.
