On June 4th, 2019, Jonathan Wilkinson with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans complied to the ruling of the court case which stated that fish farms needed to test for Piscine Orthoreovirus seeing how otherwise, they would not be complying with their legally binding precautionary terms (News & Shore, 2019).
Norway, 1999; an outbreak of Piscine Orthoreovirus (PRV) broke out and resulted in the country shifting its sights for aquaculture industry elsewhere ("Fisheries and Oceans Canada", 2019). The outbreak created huge devastations to their fish farms however, the world did not find out much about it until many years later for they kept the information quiet. It was at that time that Norway began investing in Canadian aquaculture.
During my time performing field research in Tofino British Columbia, I found that this disease has insinuated a cause of great concern for many people. While talking to Steve Charleson from Hooksum Outdoor School, he expressed his fears of what would happen to the wild salmon stocks in the event that an outbreak similar to the one in Norway were to happen at the Atlantic fish farms in the area (Charleson, 2019). Similarly, Jeh Custerra, from Friends of Clayoquot Sound, elaborated to explain that the blood water outburst on social media in 2018 partially had to do with PRV being found in Creative Salmon’s fish (whether the public knew that or not) (Custerra, 2019). Despite this, many people do not know the full research behind PRV and hold onto many misconceptions.
Figure 1: BC Farmer - Atlantic Salmon with Signs of HSMI (Alexandra Morton)
Figure 2: Healthy Atlantic Salmon (Premium Fish)
PRV in and of itself is not physically identifiable however, being a causative agent for Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI) and Jaundice, an infected fish will likely portray signs and symptoms of either of the resulting diseases (Di Cicco et al., 2019). Both conditions lead to the lowering of reaction time and mortality of the fish. Originally found in and contracted by Atlantic salmon, PRV is able to be spread to Pacific salmon (primarily Chinook) (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2019). Yet, that is not necessarily to say that it will for sure cause mortality in Pacific salmon (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2019).
Although PRV first broke out in Norway, the strain of PRV that has confirmed to have been found throughout the Fraser River salmon has likely predated fish farms entirely. In a study conducted by a 33-person panel of scientists for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) they used a locally found strain of PRV in attempts to see how fatal the disease could prove to be for wild Pacific salmon (Bennett, 2019). Yet, despite their greatest efforts they could not induce mortality to these fish using PRV (Bennett, 2019). This is likely because the local strain of PRV does not commonly cause HSMI or Jaundice. In turn this could either be due to the water conditions that do not allow for the disease to fester or simply that Pacific salmon respond differently to PRV (Bennett, 2019).
In 2017 Alexandra Morton brought forth a case to court that claimed that fish farms do not test for PRV. She claimed that through her science (which is under review for validity) and by the precautionary principles of the DFO they should be required to test for it (News & Shore, 2019). The court ruled against the fish farms and required that they would have to test for the disease as of June 4th, 2019 (News & Shore, 2019). John Wilkinson, head of the Department of Fisheries was not initially sure if they were going to comply.
The court ruling however, stated that if they failed to comply, that they would be breaching the precautionary standards put in place (News & Shore, 2019). Which in turn, would result in further consequences.
In an interview conducted by the Vancouver Sun on June 5, 2019, the day after the court ruling was to be implemented, Jonathan Wilkinson announced that DFO will comply to the court requests (News & Shore, 2019).
The testing to be done on open net farms for PRV is claimed to be a locally and naturally occurring strain of PRV found in Chinook salmon which rarely (if at all) causes mortality amongst Fraser River Salmon (News & Shore, 2019). The test itself is more to put salmon consumers and environmentalists at ease as opposed giving any regulatory results.
DFO will require testing of all Atlantic salmon fish for two strains of PRV as well as both HSMI and Jaundice prior to them being put into open ocean nets (News & Shore, 2019). He stated that this would address Alexandra Morton’s concerns (News & Shore, 2019). Mediating negative opinions of fish farms and the risk behind it is the primary incentive of Jonathan Wilikinson.
Alexandra Morton has publicly recognized that this is a huge step for DFO (News & Shore, 2019). While David Suzuki, claims it is an excellent opportunity to fill in the missing research gaps for this disease (Bennett, 2019).
At this time the Federal Government is looking for public input on some of the proposed policies to make farming fish as least risky as possible (News & Shore, 2019).
Now the current questions remain: who will do the testing for PRV (the Government or the Fish Farms)? How accurate will the form of testing be that they choose to use? What will the consequences be in result of this?
Bibliography:
Bennett, N. (2019). PRV poses 'minimal risk' to sockeye: science panel. Retrieved from https://biv.com/article/2019/02/prv-poses-minimal-risk-sockeye-science-panel
Di Cicco, E., Ferguson, H., Kaukinen, K., Schulze, A., Li, S., & Tabata, A. et al. (2019). The same strain of Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV-1) is involved with the development of different, but related, diseases in Atlantic and Pacific Salmon in British Columbia. Retrieved from https://www.psf.ca/sites/default/files/ISH%20Manuscript%20%2B%20Suppl%20mat.pdf
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/aah-saa/species-especes/aq-health-sante/prv-rp-eng.html?wbdisable=true
News, L., & Shore, R. (2019). Salmon virus testing part of new precautionary approach, fisheries minister says. Retrieved from https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/salmon-virus-testing-part-of-new-precautionary-approach-fisheries-minister-says
Interviews
Charleson, S. (2019). Hooksum Outdoor School Interview [In person]. Hesquiaht.
Custerra, J. (2019). Friends of Clayoquot Sound Interview [In person]. Tofino, British Columbia.
Photo Sources
Figure 1: Morton, A. (2016). BC Farmed Atlantic Salmon with Signs of HSMI [Image]. Retrieved from http://commonsensecanadian.ca/deadly-norwegian-disease-found-bcs-farmed-salmon-game-changer/
Figure 2: Premium Fish. (2019). Healthy Atlantic Salmon [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.premiumfish.no/project/salmon