Canadian DFO Must Regulate
Fish Farms to Prevent Spread of Salmon-Killing Diseases

On Wednesday, 4 May, Canadian federal Judge Donald Rennie ruled the Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) has been unlawfully allowing British Columbia salmon growers to transfer farmed fish into marine net pens that are carrying diseases with the potential to “severely impact” the wild salmon fishery at the international level. He held DFO is abdicating its legal responsibility to protect and conserve wild fish by handing off decisions about transferring fish with diseases to the salmon farming industry.

Most BC farmed salmon are infected with piscine reovirus. Many scientists in Norway have published research showing that piscine reovirus causes the disease, HSMI, which is known to damage salmon hearts to the point that fish can barely move. The problem for the BC salmon farming industry is that most of the fish in their pens are infected with this virus.It is critical to them to be allowed to use piscine reovirus infected fish, because they don’t have enough uninfected fish to be profitable.

“Since these infected farm fish are being placed on our wild salmon migration routes,by the millions the potential impact of this virus on wild salmon is critical to Canadians, said independent fishery scientist Alexandra Morton, who along with Ecojustice brought the suit to stop the transfers of diseased fish. “In my view government has tried to perpetuate a dangerous myth that this disease is no threat to BC’s wild salmon.