Friday, February 17, 2012

BREAKING: Thousands of Salmon Destroyed Because of Viral Scare



Thousands of fish have been destroyed because of a suspected finding of infectious salmon anemia in Nova Scotia. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is investigating the matter but would not confirm the location of the potential finding. The suspected case of ISA is believed to be at a fish farm in Shelburne owned by New Brunswick based Cooke Aquaculture. Director of the National Aquatic and Animal Health Program for CFIA, Dr. Con Kiley says samples have already been sent to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans laboratory in Moncton for testing. "The disease has not been confirmed to date, the agency with the co-operation of the company has place a quarantine on the facility. That means we have disease control measures in place and confirmatory testing is underway and results are expected over the next few weeks," ISA is a flu-like virus that affects Atlantic salmon. It is harmless to the public but it is the single most feared virus in the fish industry because its highly contagious and impact on wild salmon populations.