South Coast Today - farmed salmon

European salmon virus confirmed in BC wild salmon

SCT and news sources — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:22:06 +0000

$140 million in compensation paid by Canadian government for diseased salmon
In a news release Tuesday, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick expressed concern about a study published last week in the Virology Journal that reported on the presence of a European strain of an Atlantic salmon virus — infectious salmon anemia (ISAv) — in British Columbia wild Pacific salmon.

Inka Milewski, science advisor for the Conservation Council, said the study dispels the often repeated claims by the salmon farming industry that fish farms are not the source of diseases but rather the victim of diseases from wild fish.

"Atlantic salmon are not indigenous to B.C. It's clear from this study that the European strain found in wild Pacific salmon could only come from their contact in waters with large open netpen Atlantic salmon feedlots," said Milewski. "That the industry will not allow academic research teams to test their fish is a concern.”

"It's not just viruses that are released from fish farms, but bacterial diseases and pests like sea lice are also shed by the millions into surrounding water. For the industry to suggest that they are plagued by diseases from wild fish is simply not credible. In Atlantic Canada, particularly the outer Bay of Fundy — where farmed salmon outnumber wild salmon about 8,000 to 1 — it simply is not believable to blame wild fish for the disease problems inherent in open pen feedlot management."

The ISA virus is a member of the influenza family of viruses. According to the study, the virus has undergone a slight mutation which can make it complex to detect with current technology. First detected in Norway in 1984, it was confirmed in New Brunswick in 1998 after a mystery disease, first thought to be haemorrhagic kidney syndrome, hit 20 out of 83 licensed fish farms in 1997. Losses to the industry in 1997 alone were estimated at $10 million.

New Brunswick fish farms reported ISAv outbreaks in every year thereafter until 2007. The avirulent strain of the virus has been reported in numerous fish farms each year since then. Canadian taxpayers have paid the salmon farming industry close to $140 million in compensation. The latest ISAv outbreak, a new strain of the virus, occurred in Newfoundland in 2013. A total of $33 million was paid in compensation to the industry for five separate outbreaks in that province.

Milewski said that any biosecurity measures put in place to prevent the spread of diseases from fish farms to wild fish are inadequate and impossible to attain because of the nature of the open net pen industry, which allows free-flow of pathogens out of the farms.

"The industry shares equipment and buys eggs from provinces and other countries. Disease specialists know that water is a terrific medium for spreading disease. It's just a matter of time before another outbreak of some other virus or bacterial disease occurs," Milewski said.

"Hat-in-hand, the industry will come begging for compensation, no doubt blaming wild fish for what really is their inherently weak biosecurity measures. Rather than pay up, the federal government needs to take the ecological and financial risk out of fish farming and begin the process of transitioning the industry to land-based closed containment systems where most of the risk can be managed."

SEE CBC STORY HERE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/deadly-salmon-virus-may-be-in-b-c-waters-study-suggests-1.3397817

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Halifax restaurant owner wouldn't feed farmed salmon to her dog

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 04:02:56 +0000

CHRONICLE HERALD PHOTO

Public "suckered" about farmed salmon?
Responding to a recent letter in the Chronicle Herald from self-proclaimed salmon farming expert and academic Jon Grant, Halifax restaurant owner and "clean food" specialist Lil MacPherson said that consumers have been "suckered" about the health effects of farmed salmon and that she not only refuses to serve that salmon to the thousands of loyal customersd who frequent her two popular Wooden Monkey eateries, but she would not feed it to her dog.

Grant, who in some circles is called a "pimp" for corporate salmon farming interests, penned a recent Herald piece which extolled the virtues of open net pen salmon farming, which has been challenged in recent years in every country in which it is practiced as unsustainable and damaging to marine ecosystems.

McPherson writes that, after doing a lot of her own research on farmed Atlantic salmon, her conclusion was "not to feed farmed salmon to my dog, let alone my customers."

"And yes, I have read enough to realize the only thing Cooke Aquaculture is trying to sustain is its profits," MacPherson writes. "There is nothing good nor healthy about this practice, and we have been suckered."

She says Nova Scotians are "paying a heavy price in the millions of dollars while polluting and putting at risk our beautiful shores, without care for all the employment that depends on us keeping our oceans pristine."

MacPherson says she truly believes that if people "really did your homework," they might say “no, thank you” to your next piece of farmed salmon.

She also expressed concern that "hard-earned tax dollars" given to Cooke Aquaculture ($25 million in loans and grants in recent years) could be used in coastal communities to work on "bringing our once world-class fresh Atlantic salmon back."

"I’d bet the bank that would create real, sustainable jobs," she added.

Following Grants pro-fish farming piece, the Herald ran a full page "environment" section, which was dominated by advertising and "advertorial" material supplied by the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, a lobbying group for the industry.

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Bait-and-switch in selling farmed salmon, says Oceana

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 13:32:09 +0000

New study reveals seafood fraud in mis-labeling salmon for consumers
Possible ISA-infected fish sold as "wild"

The NGO Oceana released a new study Wednesday that reveals mislabeling of North America’s favorite fish – salmon. Oceana collected 82 salmon samples from restaurants and grocery stores and found that 43 percent were mislabeled. DNA testing confirmed that most of the mislabeling (69 percent) consisted of farmed Atlantic salmon being sold as wild-caught product.

Since munti-national Canadian farmed salmon producer Cooke Aquaculture has admitted to placing farmed salmon possible infected with infectious salmon anemia into their massive consumer food chain, the mislabeling could mean that consumers in the USA and Canada ordering wild salmon could have unintentionally consumed the infected fish.

“Americans might love salmon, but as our study reveals, they may be falling victim to a bait and switch,” said Beth Lowell, senior campaign director at Oceana. “When consumers opt for wild-caught U.S. salmon, they don’t expect to get a farmed or lower-value product of questionable origins. This type of seafood fraud can have serious ecological and economic consequences. Not only are consumers getting ripped off, but responsible U.S. fishermen are being cheated when fraudulent products lower the price for their hard-won catch.”

Oceana found mislabeled salmon everywhere it tested, including 48 percent of the samples in Virginia (includes Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News, Williamsburg, Richmond and Fredericksburg), 45 percent in Washington, D.C., 38 percent in Chicago, IL and 37 percent in New York, NY. Salmon samples were considered to be mislabeled if 1) they were described as being “wild,” “Alaskan” or “Pacific,” but DNA testing revealed them to be farmed Atlantic salmon; or 2) the samples were labeled as a specific type of salmon, like “Chinook,” but testing revealed them to be different species (in most cases lower-value fish).

“While U.S. fishermen catch enough salmon to satisfy 80 percent of our domestic demand, 70 percent of that catch is then exported instead of going directly to American grocery stores and restaurants,” said Dr. Kimberly Warner, report author and senior scientist at Oceana. “It’s anyone’s guess how much of our wild domestic salmon makes its way back to the U.S. after being processed abroad. Without traceability, it is nearly impossible to follow the fish from the farm or fishing boat to the dinner plate. What we end up eating is mostly cheaper, imported farmed salmon, sometimes masquerading as U.S. wild-caught fish.”

Oceana’s salmon samples were collected during the winter of 2013-2014, when wild salmon were out-of-season. This mislabeling rate (43 percent) differed greatly from Oceana’s nationwide survey in 2013, which found low rates (7 percent) of mislabeled salmon collected primarily in grocery stores at the peak of the 2012 commercial salmon fishing season, when wild salmon was plentiful in the market.

When looking at all of Oceana’s salmon data combined (466 samples in total), we are able to make the following conclusions:

Diners were five times more likely to be misled in restaurants than grocery stores (38 percent vs. 7 percent).
Consumers are less likely to be misled in large grocery store chains that are required to give additional information about seafood.
Salmon purchased out-of-season from all retail types was three times more likely to be mislabeled than salmon purchased during the commercial fishing season (23 percent vs. 8 percent, respectively).

Last year, the White House established the Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud. Oceana is now calling on the Obama administration to follow through on its commitment to tackle these important issues.

“The federal government should provide consumers with assurances that the seafood they purchase is safe, legally caught and honestly labeled,” said Lowell. “Traceability needs to be required for all seafood to ensure important information about which species it is, whether it was farmed or wild caught, and how and where it was caught follows all seafood from boat (or farm) to plate. Providing consumers with more information about their seafood allows them to make more informed decisions, whether it is for health, economic or environmental reasons.”

Background:
Since 2011, Oceana has worked to stop seafood fraud in the United States.
Oceana’s previous investigations of fish, shrimp and crab cakes in retail markets and restaurants in the U.S. clearly demonstrate that traceability requirements need to apply to all seafood and extend through the full supply chain to the end consumer. On average, one-third of the seafood examined in these studies was mislabeled – the product listed on the label or menu was different than what the buyer actually received, often a less desirable or lower-priced species. Oceana has observed threatened species being sold as more sustainable, expensive varieties replaced with cheaper alternatives, and fish that can cause illness substituted in place of those that are safe to eat.

In 2014, Oceana also conducted the most current and comprehensive review of seafood fraud literature to date, compiling 103 studies in 29 countries and on all continents except Antarctica. Every study found some level of seafood fraud, demonstrating that it is not just an issue that narrowly affects a handful of species or regions. In the U.S. alone, 50 different types of seafood have been found mislabeled, with over 150 species substituted in their place.

To access Oceana’s full report and other materials, as well as learn how consumers can reduce their chances of falling victim to a bait and switch when buying salmon, please visit www.oceana.org/salmonfraud.

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More disease woes for Cooke Aquaculture

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 10:28:25 +0000

ISA-INFECTED SALMON
ISA INFECTED SALMON PROCESSED FOR CONSUMERS?

The deadly infectious salmon anemia (ISA) seems to follow Cooke Aquaculture wherever they try to grow farmed salmon in their massive industrial fish pens.

Chile's National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) confirmed on February 24 that ISA has been confirmed at a Cooke farm in Aysen region of that country.

In October, 2014, Sernapesca announced that ISA had been confirmed in 3 of 16 cages at the Ballena 4 site, operated by Cooke. 600,000 salmon were harvested there, according to the Chilean government news announcement at the time.

HISTORY OF ISA OUTBREAKS AT COOKE FARMS IN CHILE & CANADA
The affected farm belongs to Cooke's Chilean subsidiary Salmones Cupquelan, which has had several ISA outbreaks at a variety of their Chilean farms since purchasing them in the wake of the massive salmon kill-off in 2008, which virtually destroyed the farmed salmon industry in that country.

Cooke has also been forced to slaughter millions of salmon at their open pen industrial farms in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, some of which have been reported to have entered the consumer food chain..

This latest outbreak was first reported as "suspected" by Sernapesca in October, 2014, close to the time when the Balena 4 outbreak was confirmed. At that time, a Cooke official told reporters that "

"In collaboration with SERNAPESCA, we will make an epidemiological study to determine the origin of the virus, allowing us to improve bioexclusion measures, according to the commitment of our directory to maintain full compliance with applicable regulations, working closely with the relevant authorities."

In the current outbreak, the HPR 3 variant of the virus was found in a salmon from the center Mentas 2, located in the Aysen region, Sernapesca said.

EUROPEAN UNION CONCERNED
The EU regulators expressed concern in 2013 about the serial outbreaks of ISA and sea lice in Chilean farms, sending a team of inspectors to the country to verify Chilean claims that ISA control measures were in place. Chile exports of farmed salmon in 2013 amounted to 205,000 tonnes, with a value of $2.2 US billion. Exports to the EU and Russia figured prominently in those values. In 2013, Russia imported 63 700 tonnes of salmon and trout from Chile, a rise of 127% from the previous year.

But when several years later, in 2013, new outbreaks were produced in the Aysen region, major steps were noted to control the situation. The audit highlighted the comprehensive analysis performed by SERNAPESCA in the development of official investigations against suspected diseases.

ISA SALMON PROCESSED FOR SALE?
Cooke harvested hundreds of thousands of 5.5 kilo salmon from the site last weekend and, as an additional measure, the remaining six cages at the centers will be harvested before March 15. The site contains 600,000 fish, amounting to 30,000 tonnes of commercial product.

There is no record of how many of the ISA-infected salmon have been processed and distributed to consumer markets in the USA and Europe.

Sernapesca says it plans to maintain official surveillance on the center Mentas 2, as well as on other farms from the area.

OTHER STORIES ABOUT THE PREVALENCE CHILEAN SALMON DISEASE ISSUES

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