alexandra morton

Four Minutes on Salmon Farming in British Columbia, Canada

This is a very quick update on the truly unbelievable situation that the Provincial Government of British Columbia and the Federal Government of Canada have put themselves in to accommodate the salmon farming industry.

Please know you have an essential role to play in the survival of wild salmon.

Should Horgan Renew Salmon Farm Tenures? from Alexandra Morton on Vimeo.

 

 

What Government Didn't Want Me To Say at the Cohen Commission

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Minister LeBlanc - poster boy Regulatory Capture

Washington State prohibits farm salmon virus that Canada ignores

Minister of Fisheries – Regulatory Capture

May 17, 2018 the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced they had denied permission to Cooke Aquaculture for transfer of 800,000 juvenile Atlantic salmon from a landbased hatchery into marine grow-out pens, because the fish are infected with an Icelandic strain of piscine orthoreovirus (PRV)

Earlier this year Washington State enacted a bill to phase out Atlantic salmon net-pen aquaculture by 2022. Cooke Aquaculture had planned to operate until then, but now has 800,000 smolts they can’t use.

Independent biologist Alexandra Morton has been in court for 5 years to uphold the law against the Canadian Minister of Fisheries, who refuses to screen BC farm salmon for PRV.

In 2015, Morton won a PRV lawsuit in Federal Court, represented by Ecojustice. Justice Rennie ruled that the Minister of Fisheries must screen BC farm salmon for PRV and uphold section 56 of the Fishery (General) Regulations prohibiting transfer of these fish, carrying a disease agent, into Canadian waters.

In 2013, Morton co-published the first scientific paper on a Norwegian strain of PRV in BC waters. In 2017, a Canadian federal research team led by Dr. Kristi Miller published on disease caused by PRV in BC Atlantic salmon and Morton published on the spread of the virus to wild salmon exposed to salmon farms. Earlier this month Dr. Miller’s research group reported that the strain of PRV found in BC causes Chinook salmon blood cells to rupture en masse.

Meanwhile in Canada, despite the emerging science and legal decision, Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc continues to refuse to screen BC Atlantic farm salmon for PRV. The industry admits 80% of BC farm salmon are infected with PRV, leaving them without sufficient uninfected fish to farm legally in BC if the Minister of Fisheries upheld the law. In 2016, Morton filed a second lawsuit against the Minister and in 2018 the ‘Namgis’ of Alert Bay filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Harvest to halt PRV-infected farm salmon from entering farms in their territory. Both cases will be heard in September.

“Washington State is leading the way again with decisive action against the risk of PRV-infected farm salmon to wild salmon. In my view, Minister Dominic LeBlanc has become a poster boy for government regulatory capture,” says Morton, “his blind obedience to the needs of this dying industry has become an international embarrassment to Canadians, and one of the biggest threats to wild salmon on this coast. I certainly hope those 800,000 infected young farm salmon do not find a home in a BC fish farm.”

Also on May 17, in an interim decision by Justice Bowden in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Marine Harvest failed to win an injunction to prevent vessels from approaching its farms within 20m. Rights of free passage over the water extend back to the Magna Carta. This case will be heard in full on June 25^th.

For more information: Alexandra Morton 250-974-7086

Farm salmon virus causing Chinook salmon cells to rupture

Briefing on PRV impact paper

 

On May 7, 2018 a scientific paper was released on the impact of piscine orthoreovirus on Chinook salmon was released. Dicicco et al 2018, provides critical information for everyone trying to pull the southern resident orca back from extinction.

https://scirate.com/arxiv/1805.01530

In summary, a highly contagious Norwegian virus infecting 80% of BC farm salmon is causing Chinook salmon red blood cells to burst with catastrophic impact on their survival.

Introduction to PRV in British Columbia

Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) was discovered in Norway 2010.[1] By then 30 million Atlantic salmon eggs had entered BC without screening for this virus. PRV is highly durable, capable of spreading long distances in seawater[2]. The science on PRV is rapidly emerging and in BC we have learned that PRV is Norwegian,[3]^,[4] it spreads to wild salmon when they are exposed to salmon farms throughout BC,[5] it is causing disease in BC farm salmon,[6] 80% of BC farm salmon are infected[7] and PRV-infected wild salmon are exhibiting reduced success swimming upriver to spawn[8]^,[9].

What we didn't know until the release of Di Cicco et al (2018) is whether PRV is causing disease in Pacific salmon.

Federal scientists are the leads on the paper. The Canadian government is arguing in Federal Court that PRV is harmless. Section 56 of the Fisheries (General) Regulations prohibits transfer of fish carrying a disease agent into Canadian waters.

Marine Harvest admits that 5/6 of their hatcheries are infected and that their industry would be “severely” impacted if they were prohibited from using PRV- infected fish.

Di Cicco et al. 2018 key findings

 

There is only one strain of PRV in BC, PRV-1, which was first described in farm salmon in Norway[10]. The BC and Norwegian strains of PRV-1 are 99.7% identical, and where the genetic sequence differs, is in the region of the RNA that controls virulence.

PRV infection targets the salmon’s red blood cells (RBCs) and the impact on the host fish depends on how these cells respond. PRV converts the RBCs into “viral factories”[11] to replicate itself. In Atlantic salmon, which co-evolved with the virus, the virus leaks out of the cells, relieving pressure and causes heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI), critically weakening the fish. Farm salmon, protected from predators can heal and regain the ability to swim.

However, Di Cicco et al. (2018) report that in Chinook salmon, PRV causes the red blood cells to burst “en masse” when the virus load becomes too great for the cells to contain. This results in a release of haemoglobin and its iron content (heme) kills the liver cells that are trying to clean this up. As the liver cells become damaged and die, yellowing of the liver occurs and in extreme cases the skin of the fish becomes jaundice. Liver and kidney failure and death are one of the outcomes of this chain reaction. As well, the massive reduction of RBCs causes anemia in the fish, which is expected to significantly reduce oxygen uptake and hence lower the fish’s performance and substantially elevate direct and predator-mediated mortality. A fish in this condition will also be ill prepared to ascend rivers to spawn, particularly through canyons such as Hells Gate in the Fraser River.

Di Cicco et al. (2018) provide no information on other Pacific salmon. This work was conducted in the Creative Salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound, who invited Miller’s lab to research their fish because they were unable to figure out why their Chinook farm salmon were turning yellow and dying. Salmon farms are ideal experimental environments for research into the impact of virulent pathogens, because they hold schools of fish in wild salmon habitat, while excluding predators, which are known to rapidly remove weakened fish[12], making it nearly impossible to study disease progression in wild fish.

Government handling of PRV in British Columbia

In 2007, government veterinarians and scientists created a novel diagnostic method for the disease HSMI caused by PRV in Atlantic salmon. The international scientific community studying PRV use PRV-specific lesions to diagnose HSMI[13], but the BC industry and provincial government fish farm veterinarians added a behavioural component to the diagnosis in 2007. This method relies on industry to provide the behavioural component of the diagnosis[14]. Marine Harvest co-published a series of papers with a provincial veterinarian 2014 – 2016 suggesting PRV is harmless and endemic in BC, without revealing that they had altered the diagnostic for PRV[15]. Had Marine Harvest et al. used the published PRV diagnostic, PRV would have been classified as a “disease agent” in BC in 2010[16].

In 2017, Di Cicco et al (2017) examined the same fish farm as the provincial vet, and while the provincial vet did not diagnose HSMI, Di Cicco et did[17].

In 2015, I won a lawsuit that ruled that the Minister of Fisheries must screen farm salmon from PRV prior to issuing a permit to transfer the fish from hatcheries on land into sea pens. Minister of Fisheries, Dominic LeBlanc, refuses to acknowledge legal decision and so I have filed a second lawsuit.[18] The ‘Namgis’ First Nation of Alert Bay also filed last month against the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Harvest to stop transfer of PRV – infected fish into their territory. These cases will be heard in September.

Document production during these lawsuits includes information that 5/6 of Marine Harvest’s Atlantic salmon hatcheries are infected with PRV and they state the salmon farming industry would be “severely” impacted if they lost the Minister’s permission to bypass the law and transfer PRV infected farm salmon into fish farms on wild salmon migration routes.

Summary

80% of BC farm salmon are carrying a highly contagious, Norwegian virus that is being released into marine waters from the Salish Sea to central Coast BC that is causing Chinook salmon’s cells to rupture en mass. The virus has been detected in the Nass and Skeena Rivers as well, but at much lower prevalence. Given the collapsing state of wild Chinook salmon that spawn in heavily farmed areas, such as Clayoquot Sound and the Broughton Archipelago, this finding suggests that significant, rapid relief could be provided to wild Chinook salmon populations if the Minister of Fisheries upheld the laws of Canada, screened all farm salmon prior to transfer and prohibited transfer of farm salmon smolts from infected hatcheries into Canadian marine waters.

All salmon farm provincial tenures in the Broughton Archipelago of North-eastern Vancouver Island will expire on June 20, 2018, and while this is outside southern resident orca habitat, if these farms are removed, we would be able to observe the impact of this on wild chinook salmon populations in the 7 major rivers of the archipelago.

PRV has also been detected in herring, trout, all species of salmon, oolichans and mussels. Impact on these species is unknown. Di Cicco et al (2018) report ongoing research on other species with the powerful research tool, rapid Viral Disease Detection (VDD) that can quickly assess presence/absence of a disease state in wild salmon.

 

6 Minute video on spread of PRV in BC: https://vimeo.com/258135790

 

[1] Palacios et al. 2010 Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation of Farmed Salmon Is Associated with a Novel Reovirus. PLoS ONE. 2010; 5: 


[2] Palacios et al. 2010 Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation of Farmed Salmon Is Associated with a Novel Reovirus. PLoS ONE. 2010; 5: 


[3] Kibenge et al. 2013. Whole-genome analysis of piscine reovirus (PRV) shows PRV represents a new genus in family Reoviridae and its genome segment S1 sequences group it into two separate sub-genotypes. Virol J. 10: 230–250. 
 

[4] Kibenge et al. 2017 Formal comment on: Piscine reovirus: Genomic and molecular phylogenetic analysis from farmed and wild salmonids collected on the Canada/US Pacific Coast. PLoS ONE 12(11):

[5] Morton et al. 2017 The effect of exposure to farmed salmon on piscine orthoreovirus infection and fitness in wild Pacific salmon in British Columbia, Canada. PLoS ONE 12

[6] Di Cicco E, Ferguson HW, Schulze AD, Kaukinen KH, Li S, Vanderstichel R, et al. (2017) Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) disease diagnosed on a British Columbia salmon farm through a longitudinal farm study. PLoS ONE 12(2)

[7] http://marineharvest.ca/globalassets/canada/pdf/other-pdfs/piscine-reovirus-prv-information-sheet_gary-marty_2013.pdf

[8] Miller et al. 2014 Infectious disease, shifting climates, and opportunistic predators: cumulative factors potentially impacting wild salmon declines. Evolutionary Applications. 7:812-855.

[9] Morton et al. 2017 The effect of exposure to farmed salmon on piscine orthoreovirus infection and fitness in wild Pacific salmon in British Columbia, Canada. PLoS ONE 12

[10] Palacios et al. 2010 Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation of Farmed Salmon Is Associated with Infection with a Novel Reovirus. PLoS ONE. 2010; 5: 


[11] Wessel et al. 2015 Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) replicates in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) erythrocytes ex vivo. Veterinary Research (2015) 46:26

[12] Bergh Ø. The dual myths of the healthy wild fish and the unhealthy farmed fish, Dis Aquat Organ. 2007; 75: 159–164. 


[13] Biering, E, and Garseth, ÅH. 2012. Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) and the associated Piscine reovirus (PRV). ICES Identification Leaflets for Diseases and Parasites of Fish and Shellfish, Leaflet 58. 6p.

[14] http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2018/04/briefing-for-chief-scientist-of-canada-hsmi.html

[15] Marty, G. D., Morrison, D. B., Bidulka, J., Joseph, T. and Siah, A. 2014. Piscine reovirus in wild and farmed salmonids in British Columbia, Canada: 1974-2013. Journal of Fish Diseases, 38: 159-164.

Siah et al. 2015 Piscine Reovirus: Genomic and Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis from Farmed and Wild Salmonids Collected on the Canada/US Pacific Coast. PLoS ONE :10 


Garver et al. 2016. Piscine Orthoreo- virus from Western North America Is Transmissible to Atlantic Salmon and Sockeye Salmon but Fails to Cause Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation. PLoS ONE. 11 


[16] http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2018/04/briefing-for-chief-scientist-of-canada-hsmi.html

[17] Di Cicco E, Ferguson HW, Schulze AD, Kaukinen KH, Li S, Vanderstichel R, et al. (2017) Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) disease diagnosed on a British Columbia salmon farm through a longitudinal farm study. PLoS ONE 12(2):

[18] https://www.ecojustice.ca/pressrelease/minister-of-fisheries-and-oceans-sued-for-putting-wild-salmon-at-risk/

Salmon Farms, Secrets and exploding cells

 

 

In April 2011, Creative Salmon which is farming Chinook salmon, in Tofino, Tla-o-qui-aht territory turned to DFO scientist, Dr. Kristi Miller because they had a problem.  Their Chinooks were turning yellow, the gills were pale and anemic. They were dying.  Their vets could not figure out the cause of this ongoing problem over the past 7 years and so they went to Dr. Kristi Miller head of  DFO's fish Genomics Lab at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo.

Miller describes the project in a Cohen Commission exhibit Genomic characterization of jaundice mortality events in cultured Chinook salmon Download Exh 1527 - DFO550188 Creative salmon proposal

Five years later, an internal report released under the Freedom of Information Act refers to this "Jaundice Study." On page 5 Dr. Miller reports that jaundice condition in the farmed Chinook salmon was infectious and appeared to be caused by piscine reovirus (PRV).  Then she makes an alarming statement:

Unfortunately this was the first reported detection of PRV in BC, and the histopathologist from the province convinced the industry not to sign off on the report (after many iterations) if PRV was to be included in the analyses. July 2016  Download report

While she does not mention any names, Dr. Gary Marty, the BC provincial histopathologist in charge of farm salmon health, also found that PRV was causing disease in BC, this time in Atlantic salmon and he too never reported it, although he went on to publish two scientific papers with Marine Harvest reporting PRV was not causing disease in BC. Briefing to Chief Scientist

Now we learn from Dr. Miller's group that PRV enters Chinook salmon red blood cells, takes control of the cell machinery and uses it to replicate itself.  When the cells become too full of virus they rupture "en masse".  This causes toxic response in the organs, loss of cells to transport oxygen to their muscles and death.  PRV appears more lethal to Pacific salmon than Atlantic salmon which is not surprising as it is Norwegian and so co-evolved with salmon from the Atlantic not the Pacific.

Download Di Cicco et al 2018

The same yellowing around the eyes and along the belly has been seen in sockeye salmon.  Is piscine reovirus part of the reason the Fraser sockeye salmon, which are migrating past millions of PRV infected farm salmon, are collapsing?  Would DFO tell us if they knew? 

All this suppression has allowed the virus to spread as the industry says 80% of BC farm salmon are infected.

 

I have been fighting the minister of fisheries in court for 5 years to stop him from putting piscine reovirus infected fish in fish farms on the BC coast, because it is against the law. I won and he refuses to obey the court.  He has been co-opted by the salmon farming industry.  All this time as he argued that the virus is harmless to wild salmon populations,  scientists in his own department were not allowed to go public with the opposite results. They knew he was wrong.  Was Minister Dominic LeBlanc aware that PRV was causing Chinook salmon blood cells to pop like water balloons?  Or did bureaucrats in his department hide the truth from him? Either way he is a complete fail in protecting wild salmon.

Piscine reovirus has the potential to destroy the wild salmon runs of southern BC because it is so infectious and they are migrating past salmon farms that are heavily infected. Indeed these salmon are vanishing and as a consequence extinction is underway for the southern resident orca.  69% of southern resident whale pregnancies are aborted because the mothers are starving for Chinook salmon.  Meanwhile the minister in charge of these whales is in court fighting me and the Namgis Nation to allow four Norwegian/Japanese companies release a virus that causes Chinook salmon blood cells to explode.

This is exactly how our planet is being destroyed. Weak governments, pliable bureaucrats, aggressive companies with deep pockets.  Textbook case here, so what are we going to do about it?

The virus is spreading...

Racing a Virus - Short Film from Alexandra Morton on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, where no one was looking Minister Dominic LeBlanc is letting sea lice from salmon farms eat wild salmon to death.

Clayoquot Sea Lice May 2018 video from Alexandra Morton on Vimeo.

 

OK full stop. It is beyond clear that Minister of Fisheries Dominic LeBlanc is on the same path as his predecessors, who ignored government scientists and destroyed one of earth's greatest sources of protein, the North Atlantic cod. He works for the fish farm industry. Are going to let him take wild salmon away from us too?

I have documented this unfolding tragedy since the beginning 30 years ago, because the industry moved into the archipelago where I was studying whales feeding on abundant salmon.  Those salmon are gone, those whales (northern residents) have abandoned the region.  The local indigenous community are at war with the industry, former head of the one of BC's biggest newspapers, Fabien Dawson, is suddenly and viciously slandering all of us. Whales are starving, indigenous communities are reeling from the loss of their most important food resource, both sides are in court, the industry has 9' fences and injunctions to stop people from looking at them and yet they released billions of infectious viral particles into public waters while you read this.

The Minister of Fisheries is lost to us.

However, Premier John Horgan is the industry's landlord and he will decide on June 20th whether to perpetuate this nightmare and issue tenure renewals for 1/4 of the industry as their licences expire.

I am not sure what else you need to know to take action with us. 

Tell Horgan he must not renew salmon farm tenures in Musgamagw, Namgis territories, the Broughton Archipelago

Premier Horgan's contact info:

250-387-1715

[email protected]

PO BOX 9041, STN PROV GOVT, VICTORIA, BC V8W 9E1

 

 

Namgis Nation has sued Marine Harvest to stop infected farm salmon entering their territory and have occupied Marine Harvest's facilities for 160 days, since August 23 2017. On May 6, Marine Harvest tried to evict them and they refuse to go.