Salmon Situation Being Well Handled, Op-ed

NOTE: The following is an op-ed piece from Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture associate deputy minister Greg Roach.

The province's routine fish health management program recently identified a suspected case of infectious salmon anemia at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm. Federal-provincial policy was immediately followed and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada's lead fish health agency, was informed of the test result and fish samples were sent to them for confirmation.

It is important for people to know they can be confident that the situation is being handled appropriately, with the best interests of Nova Scotians and the future of the seafood industry, in mind.

Infectious salmon anemia virus occurs naturally in both wild and farmed salmon. It's a disease that impacts salmon and has no negative health impacts on humans. It also poses no known threat to lobster.

For their part, Cooke Aquaculture has acted proactively and, without waiting for an order from the federal government's Canadian Food Inspection Agency, has removed and humanely destroyed the suspected fish. It was safely disposed of under the direction of the inspection agency.

Much like land farming, fish farmers have a responsibility to monitor their stocks and ensure they are healthy. The province, too, routinely tests for infectious salmon anemia as part of our fish health management program at aquaculture sites. Increased mortalities of fish at a site triggers additional testing.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will make a final determination on whether or not the suspect case is confirmed. That process is expected to take a few weeks. In the meantime, the site is under quarantine by the agency and they, and our department, are doing further testing. Our department has also heightened surveillance and testing at finfish aquaculture sites.

The province will continue to work with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the industry to make sure every step is taken to ensure a safe and healthy fish population. We are committed to ensuring that aquaculture in Nova Scotia is practised in an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable way.