Comments on: Salmon Virus Cover Up? Blame Canada!

By: Michael van Baker

Michael van Baker — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:35:13 +0000

DC Reid, yes, there is something dubious about how effectively DFO has gone about not finding a single case of ISAv–virulent or not–over the years.

This particular article doesn’t go into Fred Kebenge’s background because previous articles on this site, linked to in the story, have. I’m assuming our regular readers will remember though you’re right his credentials are a key part of the story.

By: DC Reid

DC Reid — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:30:59 +0000

This article doesn’t quite make clear that Fred Kibenge is the designated world ISA expert by the OIE and works in PEI. Molly is his wife.

Are Nylund is a Norwegian expert. He has stated: “… based on 20 years of experience, I can guarantee that if British Columbia continues to import salmon eggs from the eastern Atlantic infectious salmon diseases, such as ISA, will arrive in Western Canada”.

Kibenge also has other research than above that clearly shows that coho in Chilean farms were wiped out by ISA while farmed Atlantics nearby were not killed.

The real problem is that there are conflicts of interest among the federal, provincial, academic, science and fish farms and staff and resources moving among them.

DFO keeps claiming there are false positives – but won’t release the data tables. Now more than 100 false positives – but no data.

If anything this suggest that the provincial system testing 4726 farmed salmon with 1100 ISA symptoms recorded but zero cases of ISA must have something wrong with it. It has never had one false positive in eight years of testing. There is something wrong with this system, as well.

By: Michael van Baker

Michael van Baker — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:56:42 +0000

Todd, thanks for the comment. I understand where you’re coming from, but I think “inaccurate” is a strong word, don’t you? My reading of the research is that Pacific salmon with verified ISAv have been asymptomatic–that’s not to say there isn’t a virulent strain out there in Pacific salmon, but it’s not been conclusively demonstrated to exist…yet. As you note, the huge declines are “unexplained,” and ISAv is far from the only culprit that’s been suggested.

By: Todd Sandell

Todd Sandell — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:37:06 +0000

The conclusion that the ISAv strain recently found in the Pacific Northwest is not virulent in wild fish is inaccurate. At present we do not have enough information on this strain of ISAv, but you need to consider the backdrop of huge, unexplained declines in Fraser River sockeye and other stocks that began occurring in the late 1990’s. The research of Christine Miller (DFO), who found that prespawn mortalities were highly correlated with the expression of immune genes that become activated in response to viral infections (published in the journal Science)- although no virus was found- suggest that this strain of ISAv may be at fault.