November 2017, the effluent pipe from the Browns Bay farm salmon processing plant in Campbell River was filmed. The pipe is 90’ underwater and large volumes of blood were visible pouring from the pipe into the world’s largest wild salmon migration route in Discovery Channel. This is where most of the salmon from the might Fraser River migrate. Samples were taken and I had them tested for farm salmon viruses.
High levels of piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) detected. Genetic sequencing revealed that the virus was intact and using a unique process the lab reported that the piscine orthoreovirus in the sample was “alive” i.e. and capable of infecting other fish. PRV is highly contagious because it can drift long distances in the water.
I provided this information to the Province of British Columbia, which responded with follow up tests. They found piscine orthoreovirus too and also levels the bacteria, enterococcus, that were so high, the tests could not accurate read the levels.
Surprisingly, a quick internet search revealed that research is underway to feed enterococcus to farm fish to achieve a probiotic effect which can accelerate growth. In 2016 DFO was “thinking out of the box” experimenting with feeding farm salmon bacteria to raise resistance to sea lice
This is alarming.
Enterococcus is a human pathogen. Recreational beaches are closed when levels get too high. The Brown’s Bay Packing is in a small boat marina with a recreational beach. Because BC salmon farms treat their fish with antibiotics an average of 1.75 times per generation, there is a risk that the bacteria flowing from the discharge pipe into the marina is drug-resistant. This elevates the risk to human health.
I asked the BC Ministry of Environment, in charge of the fish processing plants, what species of enterococcus was in the farm salmon, was it antibiotic resistant and could they find out how farm salmon waste became so loaded with this pathogen?
The BC Ministry of Environment said Vancouver Island Health (VIHA) was in charge of human risks associated with this effluent. However on March 27, 2018, VIHA said my question was “outside the process,” and would not be answered.
Last week more pictures were taken of the pipe and blood was still flowing into Discovery Passage. This means the generation of wild salmon going to sea from the Fraser River were exposed.
In July 2018, the Province of BC announced that they had investigated all the fish processing plants in BC and Minister George Heyman stated more work needs to be done to ensure the waterways are safe for all wild fish stocks.
Nice sound bite, but there is a devil in these details.
- They lumped wild and farmed fish processing plants together, even though farm fish are a uniquely greater disease risk. Predators are very effective in removing sick fish from wild populations and this keeps disease levels low. Farm salmon, however, linger in a contagious state allowing their blood to become infective.
- They dropped all the tests for enterococcus and PRV. No data, no problem.
- They provided false information on PRV impact on Pacific salmon
Even as they stopped testing for PRV, the BC government report says they had a “…thorough review of the existing data and knowledge of PRV in BC” done by the
BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences. They report “By all accounts PRV in BC acts in a benign fashion.”
This statement is not true.
Recent research published by DFO, two universities and international scientists research shows that the same strain of PRV found in Atlantic salmon infects the blood cells of Chinook salmon and causes them to rupture “en masse” triggering organ damage and severe anemia. I published research that demonstrates that PRV in BC appears to be from Norway. paper paper
In November 2017, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated 8 out of 25 Fraser sockeye Units as endangered, 2 others were listed as threatened, and 5 more, as “of special concern”. Currently, all sockeye in the north-eastern and north-central parts of the Fraser watershed are ‘endangered’ or “facing imminent extirpation”.
In February, COSEWIC announced steelhead trout in the Thompson and Chilcotin river systems were at risk of imminent extirpation.
DFO recognizes “Wild populations of chinook salmon have declined dramatically in recent years,” and have closed many fisheries to protect them, to try to stop the extinction of the southern resident orca http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/maps-cartes/salmon-saumon/2018-skrw-ers-eng.html
Wild salmon in BC are in serious trouble, but the Province of BC did not order Browns Bay packing plant to stop releasing blood loaded with a human pathogen and a virus infects and multiplies in the blood cells of Pacific salmon until the cells explode.
Nothing in this report surprises me. Government has put the salmon farming industry ahead of everyone and everything since the beginning in late 1980s. Someday, someone will uncover why but in the meantime...
the future of wild salmon looks bleak.
Contact you MLA if you have any concerns.
I am on the research vessel Martin Sheen taking a close look at the salmon farms between Vancouver and Alert Bay on the migration route of the collapsing Fraser River salmon. The use of this vessel is a welcome show of support by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to keep the research government refuses to acknowledge alive.