Today the same four people were on the stand, about 50 people attended.
Dr. Kent was contracted to write a technical report for the Cohen Commission on "Infectious diseases and potential impacts on survival of Fraser River sockeye salmon." While the expectation was that this work would evaluate the potential impact of of salmon farm-origin pathogens, this was not the case.
McDade: have you talked about the risk of transfer of farm disease to wild salmon?
Kent: no
McDade: Did you look at the fish farm health database?
Kent: I scanned them this morning
McDade: Did you have the farm disease database when you wrote your report?
Kent: no
Next Greg McDade pulled up a BC Provincial farm salmon health database called BCP002864 and tells the Commission there are 1,100 references in it to the classical signs of ISA virus lesions.
A BC provincial vet reported the classic lesions associated with the lethal salmon virus ISA 1,100 times !!!!
WHOA!! ISA virus is an internationally reportable fish influenza virus that is appearing in Norwegian salmon farms worldwide. It was first identified in Norway in 1984 spread across the North Atlantic and to Chile in 2007. The clinical signs of it are reportable! In January 2009 the industry publication, Intrafish, wrote "How long can B.C. avoid ISA?" because it's arrival seems inevitable. The Minister of Fisheries has written me repeatedly that there is no strong evidence that it travels in the eggs, and the salmon farmers, Mainstream employee says there are no symptoms of ISA in BC. But this database had 1,100 references to it!
Kent, who had only scanned the database this morning disregarded reporting of 1,100 report of ISA virus lesions by the BC provincial vet. Fortunately this vet, Gary Marty, will be on the stand August 31. The Commission did not allow this database to be entered as an exhibit, so it is not public.
McDade asked Kent if he had reviewed six published papers about how pathogens become more virulent and numerous in farm salmon (see exhibits 1482,1483, 1485, 1486) but Kent said no. Nor had he reviewed a paper by an ex-DFO scientist that described exceptional decline of wild salmon wherever salmon are farmed (exhibit 1487).
McDade: You didn't cite any of these papers in your report
Kent: No, because they dealt with fish farms
Clearly, Kent's report to the Commission does not tell us anything about the potential for farm salmon to have impacted the Fraser sockeye.
Kent surprised even the other panelists when asked:
McDade: If ISA virus appears in salmon farms would you blame the wild fish
Kent: Yes
Christine MacWilliams, DFO Hatchery Vet disagreed with Kent, she said if ISAv is in BC it would come from farm salmon.
The day revealed more.
Tim Leadam entered two emails as exhibits written by Dr. Kristi Miller asking two of the witnesses; Drs. Stewart Johnson and Christine MacWilliams why they recommended that she not be able to test farmed Atlantic salmon for the signs of disease that she has found in the majority of Fraser sockeye?
Both Johnson and MacWilliams said they did not answer Miller, that Miller had misrepresented their intent.
Dr. Miller was present to watch this, flanked by government security and will be on the stand tomorrow.
Brenda Gaertner, lawyer for 12 BC First Nations directed questions to the panel:
Gaertner: Would you say that worsening environmental conditions means the level of risk of salmon farms to wild salmon needs to be reviewed?
Kent: At the time [salmon farms were sited] there was not much concern about sockeye.
Gaertner: Could we remove salmon farms to limit sockeye exposure to pathogens?
Johnson: yes
There is hope yet!
"Fisheries and Oceans researcher Kristi Miller still not talking" (The Globe & Mail, 23rd August):
"Salmon farming on the hot seat at Cohen Commission" (The Vancouver Sun, 23rd August):
