Aquaculture; improving????

Salmon are getting sick, too
https://www.thetelegram.com/news/canada/salmon-are-getting-sick-too-443443/
Salmon viruses, bacteria surveyed in Eastern Canada for first time
https://www.asf.ca/news-and-magazine/news-releases/asf-salmon-diseases-surveyed-in-eastern-canada
A molecular assessment of infectious agents carried by Atlantic salmon at sea and in three eastern Canadian rivers, including aquaculture escapees and North American and European origin wild stocks
https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2019-0048#_i4
  • Aquaculture escapees had the second highest overall infectious agent richness with few bacterial species and the highest prevalence of viruses of any group.
  • Aquaculture escapees sampled in the Magaguadavic River (multi-tissue) were unique in their infection profiles, which included three viruses, one bacterial species, and three other microparasites
  • Greater than half of escapees carried PRV-1 and ASCV, often as coinfections
  • the escapee isolate J3542_MAG (PRv1) was most similar in the S1 segment (99.7%) to VT03022017-69 (accession No. MF946300) isolated from an Atlantic salmon recovered after escaping a farm near McNutts Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, in March 2017
  • The similar infectious agent composition between North American and European origin hosts sampled in Greenland, and the finding of virtually identical PRV-1 genome sequences in fish of different continental origins supports the hypothesis of inter-continental transmission of pathogens in North Atlantic feeding areas where stocks mix
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Additional background info on the Magaguadavic River & SNB Atlantic salmon stocks not covered in this paper:

The Inner Bay of Fundy post-smolt stocks generally overwinter in the Lower/Outer Bay of Fundy – near where the open net-cage industry is based.

In 1999, ISAv was first detected for the first time in wild Atlantic salmon in New Brunswick, in the Magaguadavic River where escaped farmed salmon were found with ISAv.

The Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon stocks are now listed (in 2001 by COSEWIC) as “Endangered” by both COSEWIC AND SARA. And now the South NFLD ones, too - where not-so-surprisingly - the open net-cage aquaculture has arrived with ISAv & escapees.

Update: More escapes arrive at Magaguadavic fishway
https://www.asf.ca/news-and-magazine/in-the-field/more-escapes-arrive-at-magaguadavic-fishway
No wild Atlantic salmon returned to Magaguadavic River to spawn, conservation group says
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-...almon-magaguadavic-river-population-1.4339618
Detection of European ancestry in escaped farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., in the Magaguadavic River and Chamcook Stream, New Brunswick, Canada
https://www.researchgate.net/public...iver_and_Chamcook_Stream_New_Brunswick_Canada
 
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https://www.seachoice.org/impacts-o...dian-seafood-sectors-are-starting-to-surface/
The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance sent a letter to the Fisheries Minister with a suite of asks, including “regulatory flexibility”, and lists as examples the requirement to conduct sea lice counts on farms or compliance with the Aquaculture Activities Regulations. These requirements are designed to minimize and mitigate the impact of salmon farms on the marine environment and wildlife – not to mention the welfare of the farmed fish. Now would be a particularly bad time to release farms from their responsibility to monitor sea lice levels because wild juvenile Pacific salmon are currently migrating past B.C. salmon farms where they are vulnerable to potentially unchecked sea lice loads, viruses and other effluent that could be lethal. In Nova Scotia, the herring, gaspereau (also known as alewife), eel and mackerel runs will also be passing salmon farms and facing similar concerns.
 
Selfish, immoral, greedy, environmentally dangerous, disgusting corporate requests from a polluting, unsustainable industry. Those who support this industry should be ashamed! What a total incompetent waste of tax payers money propping up this unsustainable industry. Ues the money to move the farms on the land - that's where the future is for this industry. :mad:
 
Keep this "discussion" on topic and while we are at it, given we are based in BC, how about we try and keep it related to what is happening here for the most part.
 
Too many "written in stone" rules just mean more time on my part having to deal with nonsense, so with we stick with guidelines instead. I think we are all adults here so will leave it to everyone to interpret the statement accordingly.
 
It seems to me that what is happening with Fish Farms worldwide is of interest to members of this Forum.
If they are moving to land in one part of the world, or having serious escapements, Sea Lice or Virus outbreaks or making progress in preventing same it's worth hearing about.
It's all related to what is or what might happen in B.C.
 
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I actually agree with you FI. I think Admins might have felt East Coast Economics playing into salmon farms wasn't on topic. AA and I started debating Muskrat Falls (admins may have been right on that) but it was more in the context of how the economics are influencing decisions on East Coast fisheries. Anyway, will take another break and try to abide by the rules. I do enjoy the forum, just hard to understand when you are breaking rules sometimes....
 
Findings from the Strategic Salmon Health Initiative (SSHI)related to Piscine orthoreovirus in British Columbia
https://www.psf.ca/sites/default/fi...orthoreovirus in British Columbia FINAL_0.pdf
"...updated genetic evidence points to an Atlantic origin of PRV-1, strongly suggesting that the virus does not originate from BC. The majority of PRV-1 found in BC (aside from that in escaped Washington fish) does appear to come from a single lineage, suggesting a single introduction event. Differences between sequences of PRV-1a in BC and Europe are consistent with an Atlantic origin followed by spread in the east Pacific during recent decades."
 
“Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) is an emerging disease of marine-farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), first recognized in 1999 in Norway, and later also reported in Scotland and Chile.”

“Highly contagious virus found in majority of Clayoquot Sound salmon farms: report”

Not even the Fish Farms dispute the fact that they have a problem with PRV and Sea Lice.
They deny any relationship between PRV and HSMI.

The Fish Farm owners continue to say however that these problems are not killing many of our wild salmon and the trade off is worth providing jobs and profit for a few.

You can come to your own conclusions on how many dead wild salmon is “too many”
 
PRV infected effluent is still pumping into Tofino Harbour
After 3 years, governments continue to ignore calls to stand up for wild salmon.

 
Right now, one of the great wonders of nature, millions of recently-hatched baby pink, chum and sockeye salmon are beginning their outmigration into the Pacific Ocean, all the while feeding, growing and trying to survive. This great journey takes them from their home streams and rivers across BC, though our inside passages and coastal waters, and out into the open ocean.

As they fight to reach the relative safety of the ocean where they will live most of their lives, the young salmon must first make it through a gauntlet of narrow channels filled with factory fish farms spewing out clouds of parasites and viruses.

Fraser_salmon_migration.jpg


One key choke point the juvenile salmon must navigate are the Discovery Islands near Campbell River, BC. Infested with factory fish farms, this threat was recognized 10 years ago by the Cohen Commission, which concluded the Fisheries Minister should ban factory fish farms from the Discovery Islands in September, 2020, unless she is satisfied they pose minimal risk to the health of migrating salmon.

Well 2020 is here and the factory fish farms have panicked and scrambled to send ever bigger parasite sucking and chemical dumping ships from Norway to try and get their infestations under control. Do you think it’s working? Yeah, same here.

Our juvenile wild salmon don’t have the option of physical distancing, and are forced to swim through virus and parasite-filled waters to get to safety.
Getting factory fish farms out of the Discovery Islands, and beginning to create a safe zone, would be a major win for our wild salmon
 
Disgusting and maddening how our govt's cave in to this polluting, disease spreading, environment damaging, unsustainable industry. Need to keep the pressure on the politicians to move these farms onto land to better manage their harmful impacts and waste.
 
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