A
highly contagious virus that is deadly to salmon has been discovered
for the first time in Pacific salmon off the coast of British Columbia,
officials say. The virus, although not a threat to humans, is seen as a
serious danger to fish populations in Pacific salmon farms. The European
strain of Infectious Salmon Anaemia virus is believed to have arrived
in fish eggs transported from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Many
biologists are calling for the removal of Atlantic salmon from British
Columbia salmon farms. “Losing a virus as lethal and contagious as ISA
into the North Pacific is a cataclysmic biological threat to life,”
Alexandra Morton of Simon Fraser University said. The virus, first
discovered in Norway in 1984, has probably been loose in British
Columbia waters for years, she said. A decline in the salmon population
is a threat to the entire food chain, experts say.
