Following an outcry from the salmon farming industry, the Trudeau government has backed away from its election campaign commitment to phase out open net pen salmon farming on B.C.’s West Coast by 2025. 

Jane Deeks, press secretary for Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, confirmed in an email to The Narwhal that a transition plan will be developed by 2025 but open net pen salmon farms will not be removed by that date. 

“Our government is working on a responsible plan to transition the industry away from open net-pen salmon farming in B.C., and we have committed to developing this plan by 2025,” Deeks said in an email in response to questions from The Narwhal.

“Our government will not impose drastic, systemic change on Canadian communities,” Deeks said. “We believe that the best policies come from meaningful engagement with those who will be directly affected.” 

Stan Proboszcz, science and campaign advisor for the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, called the recasting of the Liberal government’s election promise “borderline deceitful.”

“I think it’s quite slippery to now hear from the minister, after the election, after they’re in power, that there’s a new re-interpretation of the promise … that now they’re just going to come up with a plan to remove farms by 2025,” Proboszcz said in an interview.

Wording became ‘murky’ after election

The Liberal Party’s campaign platform said a re-elected Trudeau government “will work with the province to develop a responsible plan to transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal waters to closed containment systems by 2025.”

But when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued mandate letters for his ministers in mid-December, Jordan was instructed to work with the B.C. government and Indigenous communities “to create a responsible plan to transition from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025.” 

All mention of closed containment systems had vanished, leaving the phrasing open to interpretation.

“Going into the election we were all pretty clear what the promise was,” Karen Wristen, executive director of Living Oceans Society, an ocean conservation organization based in Sointula, B.C., said in an interview.

“There’s no question that the language became somehow murky and ambiguous when the mandate letter was issued.” 

The salmon farming industry was quick to condemn the Liberal’s promise to phase out open net pen farms by 2025, saying it would cause “undue stress and pressure” for almost 7,000 families who depend on salmon farming for their livelihoods. 

Alf-Helge Aarskog, chief executive of Mowi ASA, the world’s largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, said he was confident Trudeau’s re-election would not affect the company’s operations in B.C., where it employs 600 people and farms about 45,000 tonnes of salmon a year.

“We work with any government there is and I’m sure when [Trudeau] puts his mind to it, this will not be an issue,” Aarskog told the industry publication Intrafish. 

Mowi, formerly Marine Harvest ASA, garnered media attention days before Christmas when up to 20,000 of its Atlantic salmon, a species not native to Pacific waters, escaped from a pen in Queen Charlotte Strait following an electrical fire.

Federal NDP fisheries critic Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni) said the Liberal government has done nothing to respond to the escape “except that they’re going to come up with a plan.” 

“When people raised concerns they answered that these fish are docile, that they wouldn’t make it up our streams and that the sea lions would eat them,” Johns said in an interview. 

“That’s the kind of response that people just don’t find acceptable for foreign exotic species being released into our natural environment, in areas where there’s migrating Pacific salmon.” 

The escape heightened fears that farmed salmon — which can be infected with sea lice and diseases such as piscine orthoreovirus, a highly contagious virus linked to a host of fish health problems — will affect rapidly declining wild salmon stocks.

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

Following the escape of hundreds of thousands of salmon from an open net pen farm in 2017, the state of Washington committed to phasing out all open net pen Atlantic salmon farming operations by 2025. 

The state also stopped hundreds of thousands of salmon infected with an Icelandic strain of piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) from being transferred to the farms, saying wild salmon could be at risk. 

Both Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association maintain the piscine orthoreovirus is no cause for concern. 

In B.C., infected fish are still transferred to ocean pens even though a June 2018 DFO study suggested “migratory chinook salmon may be at more than a minimal risk of disease from exposure to the high levels of PRV occurring on salmon farms.” 

Johns said the Trudeau government’s revised commitment to develop a plan by 2025 is “simply not good enough.” 

“It’s not acceptable. Our wild salmon simply cannot wait. We have had a catastrophic year.”

Last year’s Fraser River salmon returns were the lowest in recorded history, Johns noted. Only 300 chinook returned to Clayoquot Sound last year and Skeena River salmon were “decimated,” he said. In the Alouette River in Maple Ridge, 60,000 chum were expected last year but only 500 returned. 

“We have a government that is not dealing with it as the crisis that it is,” Johns said. 

“We have a salmon emergency taking place in British Columbia, and this will be the government that will watch our salmon go the way of our Atlantic cod. It will be under their watch, because inaction is something that will lead to it.”

New study says land-based farming is viable now

Deeks said a federal study on salmon aquaculture technologies, released on Feb. 4, six months after it was promised, is a crucial step for developing an “evidence-based and responsible” transition plan.

The 64-page study, State of Salmon Aquaculture Technologies, evaluates four approaches for farming Atlantic salmon. 

It concludes that both land-based fish farming and hybrid approaches — keeping fish in land-based containment systems past the smolt-stage and then growing them to market size in the sea — are technologies ready for commercial development in B.C. 

Floating closed containment systems need two to five more years to review while offshore production systems will take five to 10 years to evaluate, the study found.

The study, which examines the economic, environmental and social impacts of the four technologies, will inform the government’s plan for phasing out open net pen farms, Deeks said. 

“We recognize the value that new technologies can bring to help ensure aquaculture is done in the most environmentally sustainable and economically viable way.” 

Johns pointed to the federal government’s failure to act on recommendations made by the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, saying it erodes British Columbians’ trust that Ottawa will actually have a plan in place by 2025.

Among its recommendations, the Cohen commission said the government should remove from DFO’s mandate “the promotion of salmon farming as an industry and farmed salmon as a product” and DFO should “act in accordance with its paramount regulatory objective to conserve wild fish.” 

But even though the Liberal government, in its 2015 election platform, promised to act on the recommendations of the Cohen commission, Johns said Ottawa continues to play the role of a “double-agent,” retaining responsibility for both wild salmon and fish farming.

“Now we’re talking about a plan for 2025. British Columbians just don’t believe it any more.” 

Bonny Glambeck, campaigns director for Clayoquot Action, a Tofino-based conservation group that recently discovered piscine orthoreovirus on 14 out of 15 active salmon farms in the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, including on chinook salmon farms, said the transition to land-based containment is already underway in B.C. 

Last year, the B.C. government negotiated an agreement last year with First Nations in the Broughton Archipelago — where open net pen farms are located along a wild salmon migration route — to close 17 open net pen farms over a four-year period. 

Four farms will be out of the water this spring, Glambeck noted. Ninety-five fish farm tenures will expire in 2022 and the companies that run them do not currently have protocol agreements with First Nations, as required by the new agreement, she said.

“Without that protocol agreement those tenures will not be renewed. So those farms will be coming out. And by 2023 we could see up to 102 fish farms removed from B.C. waters.” 

Government foot-dragging will only have a negative impact on salmon farming workers and coastal communities, Glambeck said. 

“We believe that the [federal fisheries] minister needs to come up with a plan quickly to support workers and communities through this transition … we need an orderly and responsible plan to take care of B.C. communities and workers who are going to be impacted by this.”

Deeks said the federal government is working in partnership with Indigenous peoples and the B.C. government, as well as with industry leaders, to find the “best paths forward.” 

“Canadians expect the government to have an informed, responsible plan to transition open net-pen salmon farming in B.C., and that is what we are working on with our partners.”

Johns said the federal government should follow the lead of Washington state and quickly transition to land-based salmon farming that keeps jobs in communities. 

“We also need to take a real hard look at the wild fishery and the importance of those jobs to the local economy. We just saw our commercial catch go from 42 million pounds — the 10-year average — to three and a half million pounds this year,” he said.

“We need to bring our wild species back to abundancy … if we wipe out our wild salmon industry the amount of jobs lost are much greater than they would be in the aquaculture industry, that’s for sure.”

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Salmon at a majority of Clayoquot Sound fish farms are infected with the Norwegian strain of a highly contagious virus, according to an investigative report released Wednesday. 

The report by Clayoquot Action, a Tofino-based conservation society, says feces, flesh and scale samples from 14 out of 15 farms tested positive for the piscine orthoreovirus, a disease that gained notoriety after a video of bloody discharge from packing plants in Tofino and Campbell River went viral in December 2017.

Laboratory testing by the B.C. government showed the underwater effluent was contaminated with piscine orthoreovirus, a disease found in 80 per cent of farmed Atlantic salmon that is linked to a host of fish health problems, including heart and skeletal muscle inflammation and haemorrhages in internal organs. 

Clayoquot Action campaigns director Bonny Glambeck said it’s particularly concerning to find piscine orthoreovirus on Chinook salmon farms located along wild salmon migratory routes in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Four of the active farms the group tested are owned by Creative Salmon, the only company raising Chinook on a large scale in open net pen farms in B.C. Most B.C. open net pen operations — including 11 other active farms tested for the study, which are owned by Cermaq, a Mitsubishi subsidiary headquartered in Norway — produce Atlantic salmon, a species not native to the Pacific Coast.

“Wild Chinook salmon in Clayoquot Sound are on the brink of extinction,” Glambeck told The Narwhal. 

“This is just the final nail in the coffin with all the stresses that the wild salmon are undergoing right now.”

An open-net pen salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound. Photo: Clayoquot Action

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says a B.C. strain of piscine orthoreovirus has been found in salmonids off the B.C. coast since 1987 or 1977 — about the time salmon farming began — and has a “low ability” to cause disease. 

Laboratory testing commissioned by Clayoquot Action found the strain in Clayoquot Sound fish farms is a Norwegian variant of the disease, known as PRV-1a. 

Atlantic salmon eggs — 30 million of which were imported to B.C. — are the most likely source of contamination, according to the report, Going Viral: Norwegian Salmon Farm Virus Threatens Clayoquot Chinook.

“It’s very, very concerning,” Glambeck said. 

“They are essentially denying the existence of this Norwegian variant in British Columbia waters … It’s just shocking to me that they continue to deny that it is damaging and dangerous to wild salmon, pretending that it’s not happening.”

Terry Dorward, a Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation councillor, said the federal government is spreading “disinformation” about the piscine orthoreovirus variant found on salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound, whose biodiverse rainforest islands support many species dependent on wild salmon.

“This is similar to what my people — Indigenous people — experienced when we were given smallpox blankets,” Dorward told The Narwhal. “We were nearly wiped out. And I believe the same thing is happening to our wild salmon.” 

There is scientific evidence that piscine orthoreovirus is harmful to salmon. A June 2018 DFO study confirmed that piscine orthoreovirus in Pacific Chinook is strongly associated with the rupture of red blood cells, resulting in jaundice, organ failure and death.

The findings suggest that “migratory Chinook salmon may be at more than a minimal risk of disease from exposure to the high levels of PRV occurring on salmon farms,” according to the study.

Shawn Hall, a spokesperson for the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, said there is “nothing new” about information in the Clayoquot Action report. 

Hall said the same variant of the virus is present in both B.C. and Norway and “is not virulent. It doesn’t make fish sick.” 

“Our fish go into the ocean without PRV, from land-based hatcheries which are based here in B.C.,” Hall said. 

“We’re not importing anything. Our fish are raised from local broodstock in local hatcheries. They go into the water without PRV and they pick it up in the ocean just as wild fish do … the strain that they found is the strain that we knew was here and it’s not causing significant issues.” 

Hall pointed to a study conducted in 2018 after fears were raised, following the video of bloody discharge at the packing plants, that wild salmon could be harmed by piscine orthoreovirus.

The study notes that piscine orthoreovirus is a causative factor to the disease Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI), that fish infected with the virus may not exhibit any symptoms and that the virus appears to have far less of an impact on fish in B.C. than it does on salmon in Norway.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and UBC, also notes research gaps that need to be addressed “as PRV is a recently discovered virus and its pathogenicity to salmonids is still a mystery.”

Wild salmon smolts swim past the open nets of a fish farm in Clayoquot Sound. Photo: Tavish Campbell

Dorward said an agreement the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation signed with Creative Salmon has been “in limbo” since the chief and council voted last year to ask the company to remove open net pen farms from the nation’s traditional territory.

The vote followed a visit to salmon farms last summer, when Dorward said he and others saw deformed farmed fish and wild salmon swimming through open net pens.

“Over the years we’ve witnessed the collapse of the fisheries and the negative impacts it has to our coastal communities … We know there’s other factors involved, [like] climate change … Some things we can’t stop. But we can stop this particular issue of open net salmon farms,” he said.

“These organisms are extremely successful viruses that can mutate and spread. The protection of our wild salmon is at great risk here.” 

In 2018, the state of Washington announced that open net pen Atlantic salmon fish farms would be phased out by 2025. The state also stopped hundreds of thousands of salmon infected with an Icelandic strain of piscine orthoreovirus from being transferred to the farms, saying wild salmon could be at risk.

A map showing the location of fish farms in Clayoquot Sound. Sites where the piscine orthoreovirus was found are denoted in red. Map: Wilderness Committee

Clayoquot Action is one of a number of groups and First Nations calling on the federal government to prohibit the transfer of piscine orthoreovirus-infected fish to open net pen farms. 

Last year, following parallel legal cases brought forward by biologist Alexandra Morton and the ‘Namgis First Nation that aimed to prevent the transfer of smolts infected with the virus to open net pens, the courts ordered Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to revise its piscine orthoreovirus policy and apply the precautionary principle by June 4. DFO subsequently received a four month extension from the courts. 

But during the fall federal election campaign, when there was no sitting fisheries minister, DFO said it would not screen for piscine orthoreovirus or prevent the transfer of piscine orthoreovirus-infected fish to salmon farms. 

In an emailed statement in response to questions from The Narwhal, DFO said it had determined in October 2019 that testing for the B.C. strain of PRV is not required under fishery regulations in order to authorize a fish transfer license. 

“While this decision was based on best available information and science, the department will continue to adapt its approach to managing PRV, if warranted by new science or information,” the statement said. 

 DFO also noted the World Organization for Animal Health does not consider PRV to be a reportable disease and there is no human health risk associated with the virus. 

The ‘Namgis First Nation is now taking the federal government back to court, asking for a review of the October 2019 decision to continue to allow salmon farms to be stocked with piscine orthoreovirus-infected fish. 

As a campaign promise, the Trudeau government pledged to work with the province of B.C. and Indigenous communities to create a plan to transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal B.C. by 2025 — a commitment also outlined in the mandate letter for Bernadette Jordan, the newly appointed federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Many people interpreted the promise to mean open net pen farming on B.C.’s coast would end by 2025. Yet Jordan subsequently clarified that she has five years to prepare for a transition, implying that open net pens could remain in coastal waters past 2025.

Dorward said the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation wants Creative Salmon either to move to closed containment systems for salmon farming or to transition to kelp farming, which he said would also create jobs, be better for the environment and help meet a growing global demand for kelp.

“We need to be more proactive and creative in finding solutions to these disease outbreaks or we’re going to completely wipe out our wild salmon which we greatly depend on on the west coast,” he said.

Glambeck said a team of staff and volunteers conducted 25 field trips to the fish farms, scattered along Clayoquot Sound’s meandering inlets, from May to December 2019. Farms were visited multiple times, she said. 

Sampling vials used by researchers with Clayoquot Action. Photo: Jeremy Mathieu

“We would use a fine mesh aquarium net on a long pole and we would go around the fish farms — very close, within a few feet of the farms — and we would just scoop up little bits of fish scales and feces and bits of flesh, the type of thing that floats out of the farms.” 

Dozens of samples were put on ice and shipped by courier to the Atlantic Veterinary College where they were tested by virology professor Fred Kibenge, chair of the department of pathology and microbiology. Kibenge, who declined to be interviewed, is editor of the journal Aquaculture.

Some of the samples were taken last November after an unseasonable algae bloom caused a massive die-off at Cermaq operations in northern Clayoquot Sound, killing 200,000 fish. Clayoquot Action sent decomposing flesh and other matter from the die-off to the Atlantic Veterinary College, where it tested positive for the Norwegian variant of PRV.

Glambeck said she first heard of piscine orthoreovirus during the Cohen commission investigation into the decline of Fraser River sockeye, when federal government genomic scientist Kristi Miller testified that she had been asked to help Creative Salmon diagnose why fish were jaundiced and discovered the company’s farmed Chinook had piscine orthoreovirus (PRV). 

“It’s a particular concern that Creative Salmon has PRV on their farms that is replicating and adapting to a specific species, and spreading through the waters of Clayoquot Sound,” Glambeck said. 

“Viruses and pathogens on these farms become more virulent with the amount of fish crowding on the farms so we’re really concerned that this virus will become even more dangerous to Chinook and other Pacific species than it is now.” 

According to the report, a salmon farm infected by piscine orthoreovirus can release as many as 65 billion viral particles an hour, which are spread far and wide by tidal currents. 

“Because fish breathe by passing water over their gills, it is dead easy for PRV to enter the bloodstream of wild fish,” the report said.

Salmon farming companies referred questions to the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.

Updated at 2:40 p.m. on Feb. 6 to include comment from DFO, which was not able to respond to questions by our deadline. 

Updated at 12:40 p.m. on Feb. 7 to add the words “Atlantic salmon” to the following sentence: In 2018, the state of Washington announced that open net pen Atlantic salmon fish farms would be phased out by 2025.

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Laboratory testing by the B.C. government has confirmed tens of thousands of litres of bloody effluent released into the ocean from two fish processing plants contained a dangerous virus prevalent in farmed Atlantic salmon in B.C.

Two fish processing facilities that service the farmed fish industry, the Brown’s Bay Packing plant near Campbell River and the Lions Gate Fisheries plant in Tofino, were inspected by the province in early December and laboratory results confirmed the presence of piscine reovirus (PVR), the B.C. Ministry of Environment told DeSmog Canada.

Piscine reovirus, which affects 80 per cent of farmed Atlantic salmon, was first detected in B.C. fish farms in 2011 but has since been detected in wild cutthroat and steelhead trout as well as wild chinook, sockeye coho and chum salmon. The virus is linked to a host of health problems for fish, including heart and skeletal muscle inflammation and haemorrhages in the internal organs.

Underwater footage captured by Tavish Campbell in November brought increased public scrutiny to the release of ‘bloodwater’ discharge from B.C. fish processing plants, prompting elected officials to reevaluate the environmental risk associated with the practice.

At the time of filming, Campbell gathered samples that the Atlantic Veterinary College found to contain piscine reovirus. The province has now confirmed those findings.

“I would have been surprised if they didn’t find it,” Campbell told DeSmog Canada.

An while he’s glad government is committed to reviewing the fish processing plants, Campbell said the threat of viral infection for wild salmon starts with the fish farms themselves.

“Certainly these plants are one source of infection for wild salmon. They need to be dealt with,” Campbell said. “But it’s really not good enough while there’s all these infected fish in the water just up the passage.”

B.C. has experienced a surge of public opposition to fish farming in recent months. Several First Nations, which have been occupying fish farm operations in the Broughton Archipelago since September, met with provincial cabinet ministers last week to discuss whether or not the government will renew aquaculture tenures for major farmed salmon producers, Marine Harvest and Cermaq.

Farmed Atlantic salmon infected with piscine reovirus. Photo: Alexandra Morton

Fish plant effluent pipes a known danger to wild salmon

There are currently 109 fish processing plants in B.C., 28 of which have provincial permits under the Environmental Management Act to release effluent into ocean waters.

The provincial discharge permit for the Brown’s Bay Processing plant, obtained by DeSmog Canada, shows that in 1989 the province granted the facility permission to release 28,000 litres of effluent every day.

“British Columbians expect their government to ensure any discharge into the water is safe, and does not threaten wild salmon,” B.C. environment minister George Heyman said in a statement provided to DeSmog Canada.

“The previous government ignored the issue and failed to update regulations or even regularly conduct inspections,” Heyman said.

The most recent inspection of the Brown’s Bay facility occurred in 2013.

“That isn’t good enough, and that is why, in December I announced an immediate review of fish processing plants, which will include audits of 28 facilities, as well as strengthening requirements to ensure wild salmon are protected,” Heyman said.

The province will review whether effluent released from the 28 plants is causing harmful pollution, whether the current permits contain provisions to protect the environment, whether permit holders are in compliance with existing rules and whether or not the rules set out in the permits reflect best practices to protect wild salmon stocks.

Michael Price, salmon researcher and PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, said while he isn’t surprised government has confirmed the presence of piscine reovirus in bloodwater, he is surprised it has taken so long for B.C. to address the release of untreated effluent into fish habitat.

B.C. fish farm in the Okisollo Channel. Photo courtesy Tavish Campbell

Price conducted research in 2010 that found effluent from facilities processing farmed fish contained live sea lice and viable sea lice eggs, which indicated the discharge was not being treated to kill pathogens. His research further found the release of sea lice-laden effluent was occurring in sockeye salmon migratory routes and rearing habitat.

“That to me is probably the most frustrating. Many of us have had concerns that virulent pathogens are being distributed into nursery waters of juvenile salmon for nearly eight years now,” Price told DeSmog Canada.

Effluent released from fish processing plants is also not screened to limit the amount of tissue of infected fish being released into the ocean, Price said.

“And we know this is exactly how pathogens are transmitted: through mucus and slime and the tissue of infected fish.”

The release of untreated effluent is not permitted in European countries where fish farming takes place, Price noted.

“They have biosecurity practices in place in Scotland, Norway, other countries where there’s an aquaculture industry. These farmed salmon companies know this, these are the rules they play by there,” Price said.

“And we know this is exactly how pathogens are transmitted: through mucus and slime and the tissue of infected fish.” https://t.co/yMXxoiUW0K

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) February 5, 2018

Feds launch scientific review of aquaculture industry

On February 2, the federal government announced an independent expert panel would review the farmed fish industry and make recommendations “on the appropriate use and consideration of scientific evidence in protecting the marine environment in decision-making on aquaculture.”

The panel will be led by Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, Dr. Mona Nemer, who will deliver a final report to fisheries minister Dominic LeBlanc and science minister Kirsty Duncan. The report will also be made publicly available.

LeBlanc acknowledged “Canadians have real concerns around aquaculture.”

“We look forward to the recommendations of the panel led by the Chief Science Advisor on how science can be better applied to decision making and communicated to the public in support of sustainable aquaculture,” he said in a statement.

Price, who has published research on the federal government’s failure to monitor B.C.’s wild salmon stocks, said he is uncertain about the intended outcome of the new expert panel.

Price said many of the 75 recommendations made by the 2012 Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, headed by Justice Bruce Cohen, have yet to be followed.

The Cohen Commission cost taxpayers more than $37 million.

“I don’t think we want to waste taxpayer dollars repeating that proces,” Price said. “I would think that first step would be to implement the recommendations of this inquiry when it comes to aquaculture.”

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Wild salmon swimming past B.C. fish farms are at high risk of picking up a virus that causes weakness and affects their ability to reach spawning grounds according to new groundbreaking research published this week in the scientific journal PLOS One (Public Library of Science One).

The study found the percentage of wild salmon infected with piscine reovirus (PRV) was much higher in wild salmon exposed to a large cluster of salmon farms along the B.C. coast than in those that were not.

“In my view allowing piscine reovirus to flow from salmon farms into the marine environment will be viewed as an environmental crime of the highest order,” independent biologist and study author, Alexandra Morton, told DeSmog Canada.

ICYMI: Disturbing New Footage Shows Diseased, Deformed Salmon in B.C. Fish Farms

Morton’s concern that enough isn’t being done to protect wild salmon stocks is in line with concerns from some coastal First Nations, which in August occupied two fish farms on the Central Coast over their opposition to open-pen farms.* In early December, environmental group Pacific Wild released footage showing clouds of blood emanating from fish plants on Vancouver Island; subsequent testing revealed that that blood, too, contained the virus and other parasites.

The new study also found infected wild salmon were less likely to make it back to high-elevation spawning grounds.

“This study provides the first evidence that exposure to farmed Atlantic salmon is associated with infection of wild Pacific salmon with PRV, a virus of significant concern to both the aquaculture industry and wild fisheries management and that PRV infection may impair the capacity of wild salmon to complete a challenging spawning migration, with the potential for population-level impacts,” the study concludes.

Alarmingly Low Salmon Stocks in B.C. Stoke Fish Farming Concerns

The findings come at a time of alarmingly low salmon returns in B.C. and, adding weight to the concerns, are recent scientific findings that PRV is linked to heart and skeletal muscular disease (HSMI). Although HSMI has not been found in wild salmon it was found at a fish farm in the Discovery Islands between 2011 and 2013.

HSMI makes the fish lethargic — something that is not necessarily a problem for penned fish, but is usually fatal for wild salmon, which are in danger of being eaten by predators such as eagles, seals or killer whales if they lie around on the surface, independent biologist and study author, Alexandra Morton, told DeSmog Canada.

“And we know the fish don’t even have to get HSMI. PRV lodges itself in the red blood cells and affects the ability to carry oxygen from the gills to the tissues,” Morton said.

If the infection progresses, the salmon’s heart and swimming muscles become damaged leaving the fish very weak.

Salmon farming companies would not give Morton access to their fish, so the team of scientists bought 262 farmed salmon and 35 farmed steelhead from supermarkets. Tests found PRV in 95 per cent of the salmon and 69 per cent of the steelhead.

Farmed salmon tested for study. Photo: Alexandra Morton

Highest Density of Infected Wild Salmon Near Highest Density of Fish Farms

The scientists then looked at wild salmon infection rates and found that the highest percentages of infected fish were in high-density fish farm areas such as the Broughton Archipelago, where 45 per cent of the wild fish were found to have the virus.

Wild fish around the Discovery Islands — where the Cohen Commission concluded that diseases from farmed salmon could have an irrevocable impact on Fraser River sockeye returns — were found to have a 37 per cent infection rate and 40 per cent of returning salmon in the lower Fraser River were infected.

ICYMI: Ban on New Fish Farm Permits Sidelined as Escaped U.S. Farmed Salmon Increase in B.C. Waters

However, as Fraser salmon made it to the upper reaches of the river, the infection rate dropped by about 50 per cent.

“This suggests that salmon infected with PRV are less capable of swimming up through strong rapids in places like Hells Gate and therefore unable to reach their spawning grounds,” said study co-author Rick Routledge, Simon Fraser University professor emeritus.

In contrast, in areas furthest away from salmon farms, such as the Skeena and Nass, the infection rate dropped to five per cent.

This is the first study in the world to compare infection rates in wild fish to infection rates in farmed fish and the difference between the north and south is startling, said Morton, an outspoken opponent of open net pen fish farms.

One oddity found in the study was that in Cultus Lake, where, last year, sockeye were listed as endangered, 76 per cent of the trout were found to be infected.

That will need further study, but the hypothesis is that the trout were infected by salmon that travelled through the Discovery Islands and the virus was then incubated in the lake, Morton said.

“It’s a durable virus, a nasty little thing and it can exist for quite a long time outside the fish. It’s shed in the feces and urine,” Morton said.

A recent, video-gone-viral showing “blood water” being pumped into the ocean near Campbell River from Brown’s Bay Packing Company, a farmed fish processing plant, shocked British Columbians — and effluent samples analyzed by the Atlantic Veterinary College tested positive for PRV.

Morton said her research was completed before the video was taken, but effluent from the processing plant could be contributing to the high PRV rate in the Discovery Islands. The discharges are currently being tested by provincial investigators.

The peer-reviewed study is being strongly criticized by the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association which issued a press release accusing Morton of using weak correlational data to draw strong conclusions.

“This paper is part of a deliberate activist campaign led by Alexandra Morton and can hardly be taken as unbiased research,” said Jeremy Dunn, the association’s executive director.

The release says it is impossible to sample fish in a supermarket and make claims about the exposure of wild salmon to a pathogen.

BCSFA says that PRV commonly affects Atlantic salmon raised in open net pens around the B.C. coast, but say it is rarely associated with any sort of sickness and, although research is continuing, results so far show the virus “has little to no effect on an animal’s fitness.”

The presence of PRV has been linked to HSMI in farmed fish in Norway where the number of HSMI infected salmon farms rose to 181 by 2014. The presence of HSMI in Norway has caused fatalities in farmed fish according to company Marine Harvest.

But that same causal connection has not been proven in B.C. or replicated in laboratory settings, according to the industry association.

Morton said that, after the virus was first identified in Norwegian fish farms in 1999 it moved rapidly through the industry, appearing in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Chile. Most salmon-farming companies operating in B.C. are Norwegian-owned and previous research found the strain of PRV identified in her study originated in Norway, she said.

“This work is a strong indicator that [federal] management of salmon farms is not consistent with law, the precautionary principle or the mandate handed down by the Prime Minister of Canada that [the Department of Fisheries and Oceans] use science to manage fish stocks,” Morton told DeSmog Canada.

Morton and Ecojustice are currently arguing in Federal Court that the government is acting illegally by issuing licences allowing juvenile farmed salmon to be put into ocean pens without testing for the virus as transferring diseased fish into wild fish habitat contravenes the Fisheries Act.

Salmon-farming companies Marine Harvest and Cermaq have joined DFO in contesting the lawsuit and claim their businesses would fail if the court says they cannot put infected fish in the ocean.

* Correction Dec. 15, 2017: Due to an editor's error a previous version of this article stated First Nations occupied B.C. fish farms in October. They in fact began their occupation in August.

Image: B.C. farmed salmon. Photo: Tavish Campbell

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A report, published on July 11th of this year, reveals that the Piscine Reovirus (PRV) is decimating British Columbia salmon populations. This report, published in Virology Journal, was co-authored by researchers from the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas in Chile and, and the Raincoast Research Society in British Columbia. The research shows that B.C. fish tested positive in both farmed and wild salmon sources.

Yet, despite the report’s findings, officials for the Canadian government’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) claim that the virus is no cause for alarm. As with any of the three deadly European viruses found on the coasts of B.C., the DFO doesn’t consider the appearance of a virus as a threat. They will only take action in the event of a major disease outbreak.

Twyla Roscovich sought to find out why in her Documentary, Salmon Confidential. In it, she asked Dr. Gary Marty, B.C. Health Vet, what his conclusions were about PRV contamination, in relation to the drastic decline in fish populations in the Fraser River and Rivers Inlet Sockeye. Dr. Marty said that he doesn’t know what the problem is, so the virus shouldn’t be blamed.

“When it was first reported in 2010, I was very concerned. So, we went and tested 625 fish and found it in just about every fish. We found it in healthy fish… So, I decided that I couldn’t provide any interpretation for what this meant and I decided it was probably not a major concern. “ – Dr. Gary Marty.

Farmed fish is a multi-million dollar industry in B.C. and salmon is what the province is known for worldwide. Scientists are concerned that the DFO and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)—the governing bodies in charge of protecting the fish—are also responsible for the state of the industry. That “is a major conflict of interest,” said Dr. Larry Dill, professor of Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University.

It is likely that the virus was imported to B.C. out of Norway, by way of the fish farming industry. Samples taken from the European virus and the B.C. virus show enough similarities to assume that they are from the same strain. Ninety-eight percent of the Pacific salmon fish farms in B.C. are Norwegian-owned.

The farms are crowded along the coast of the Discovery passage—the narrowest salmon route in the world and the DFO approved location of eleven fish farms. The only wild fish populations that are experiencing a decline in numbers are those that travel through the Discovery passage to spawn. Wild salmon that take a more westerly route and do not pass through the farms are showing no signs of disease. 

Biologist Alexandra Morton, along with many other scientists in Canada, Chile and Norway are convinced that the PRV virus is a very serious problem. PRV was first identified in Atlantic salmon farms in Norway in 1999. It is considered lethal to fish as it has proven to lead to the disease HSMI – heart and skeletal muscle inflammation.

According to the most recent press release by the Department of Wild Salmon, “HSMI can cause lesions in the heart and muscles and can make the heart soft, impeding the fish’s ability to swim and uptake oxygen.”

The 2012 Annual General Report by the Norwegian company, Marine Harvest—the leading salmon aquaculture company in British Columbia—cites HSMI as the second largest cause of fish mortality.

The inflammation of the heart and muscles makes tissues blood-logged and weak, which means that the fish are unlikely to have the athletic ability to swim against the strong current to spawning grounds. This decreased ability to swim upstream may be linked to the thousands of mysterious pre-spawn fish mortalities in recent years.

There are many papers written by Norwegian experts on the relationship between PRV and HSMI. One such paper by Gustavo Palacios et al. recommends that “measures must be taken to control PRV not only because it threatens domestic salmon production but also due to the potential for transmission to wild salmon populations.”

It has been very difficult for scientists to do proper research on farmed fish in Canada. Fish farm records are considered confidential which means they are not available to scientists or the public. The farmed fish samples used in the Department of Wild Salmon’s research had to be taken, primarily, from supermarkets.

Morton claims that her research is being slowed by her “lack of ability to go to the farms and test.” Out of necessity, Morton has been forced to conduct her research on supermarket fish, which have proven to be a viable source of the virus.

What Morton's team has found in Canadian supermarkets is appalling. A healthy salmon ought to be fat with dark orange flesh. The supermarket fish were skinny, grey-gilled, with deformities and visible lesions.

“A skinny fish is a sick fish,” Morton said and Dr. Marty agrees. “Sick fish,” he said, “don’t eat, and fish that don’t eat won’t grow. It is expected that fish that make it to market are healthy. They are also inspected by CFIA.”

Morton and Dr. Kibenge from the lab for fish viruses at the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island “have found PRV in nearly 97% of the farmed salmon tested in B.C. supermarkets.” Since these findings the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has attacked the credibility of Dr. Kibenge's research, suggesting his international certification be revoked.

The province projects that the presence of the virus won't be a threat according to the Department of Wild Salmon, “there is no evidence to support the province’s theory.” 

In Morton's opinion, the main concern is that “the viability of wild salmon has been put at risk in favour of the viability of farmed salmon.”

*images and video courtesy of the Department of Wild Salmon.

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