B.C.’s salmon industry could be facing even tougher times if the provincial government doesn’t take action soon, an SFU professor warned Monday.
Simon Fraser University researchers Richard Routledge and Nicole Gerbrandt, in collaboration with independent biologist Alexandra Morton, have found the first-ever traces of infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in sockeye salmon in the North Pacific.
Two out of 48 salmon smolts collected from Rivers Inlet were infected with the virus, which researchers fear could spread to other salmon and various wildlife species on the West Coast.
While researchers could only speculate about the definitive effects of the virus, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs is calling for an end to the “unholy marriage between the salmon farming industry and the department of fisheries and oceans,” which it says threatens the survival of salmon.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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