Vancouver, BC, CANADA, Aug. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Video and photographs
Vancouver, BC, August 22 nd , 2018 – For the past two months Sea Shepherd’s research vessel the R/V Martin Sheen has ventured to every salmon farm on the Fraser sockeye salmon migration route between Vancouver and Alert Bay with Canadian scientists on board, collecting samples to determine the impact of salmon farms on wild fish populations. One of the scientists is independent biologist Alexandra Morton, who has been investigating the link between open-net fish farms, sea lice, viruses, and the decline of wild salmon populations for three decades.
Morton has collected farm salmon tissue and feces from the waters adjacent to approximately half of British Columbia’s open-net salmon farms. This is part of her ongoing research into the spread of farm salmon viruses into wild salmon habitat.
“I have results from the first five farms sampled this summer, all from the Discovery Islands,” reports Alexandra Morton, “100 percent were positive for piscine orthoreovirus,”
A large portion of the Fraser sockeye is currently migrating past these infected farms.
Earlier this summer Justice Maisonville ruled against Marine Harvest, granting Morton the right to approach the farms to collect samples however the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) refused to grant her a scientific license to test shellfish near farms, Morton therefore developed the novel method of collecting tissue from dead farm salmon that is drifting out of the pens.
“In my experience, DFO and industry will try to obstruct any science that measures the impact of salmon farms on wild salmon,” says Morton, “but I believe this work is critical to the survival of wild salmon and whales on the BC coast.”
By law, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) can only issue a license allowing fish farmers to transfer fish if they “do not have any disease or disease agent that may be harmful to the protection and conservation of fish.” In 2015, Alexandra Morton sued DFO for the second time for issuing licenses to Marine Harvest Canada Inc. to transfer farm fish carrying PRV into the open-net fish farms. Morton won the first case, but DFO refuses to acknowledge the court ruling. On September 10 th , Morton will be in court once again, this time joined by the Namgis First Nation, to demand Canadian law be enforced, as Atlantic salmon are still not being screened for PRV before transfer into farms on the migration routes of wild salmon, with no filtration or containment of the waste.
Most farmed salmon sold in markets is infected with PRV as per research published in PloS One, on December 3 rd 2017 i . Most salmon farmed in B.C is exported to the United States. There are no studies on the effect of piscine orthoreovirus on humans, despite farmed salmon being consumed raw in sushi restaurants.
The results from Sea Shepherd’s Operation Virus Hunter III are extremely concerning. A paper published in the journal FACETS2 earlier this year describes how PRV invades and bursts the blood cells of Chinook salmon causing organ failure, severe jaundice and release of the virus into marine habitats.
Chinook salmon are the primary source of food for British Columbia’s critically endangered southern resident orca whales. The plight of these orcas received global media attention when a grieving female, known as J35, carried her dead calf with her for 17 days in a prolonged display of grief. This pod is showing signs of starvation due to the lack of Chinook salmon from the Fraser River ii and has not had a successful live birth in several years. The preliminary results reported here suggest salmon farms could be having significant impact on Chinook salmon and the southern resident orca.
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References
1 http://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2018-0008
2 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=1...ne.0188793
ABOUT INDEPENDENT BIOLOGIST ALEXANDRA MORTON
A world-renowned biologist, Alexandra Morton began her carrier studying orcas in the Broughton Archipelago. After an influx of fish farms to the area, Morton documented the resident orca’s abandonment of the area, increased toxic algae blooms, and the devastating impact of sea lice from salmon farms on wild juvenile salmon. Concerned about the impact of fish farms on local ecosystems, Morton shifted her research to impact of salmon farms on wild salmon health, having focused much of her recent studies on the piscine orthoreovirus (PRV).
ABOUT THE RESEARCH VESSEL MARTIN SHEEN
The R/V Martin Sheen is Sea Shepherd’s scientific research vessel. Its purpose is to collaborate with marine scientists, laboratories, universities and government agencies to study a range of marine species and understand how to better protect them. The vessel has collaborated on several projects, including the effects that micro plastics have on resident fin whales in the Sea of Cortez, toxicology on cetaceans and behavior of rare beaked whales on the remote Guadalupe Island in Mexico.
ABOUT OPERATION VIRUS HUNTER
Sea Shepherd’s research vessel, Martin Sheen returns to the west coast of Canada for a third year as part of Operation Virus Hunter III — to study the impact that farmed salmon has on wild salmon populations in British Columbia. Working in collaboration with biologist Alexandra Morton, other scientists, and indigenous peoples along the coast, Operation Virus Hunter puts a spotlight on a secretive industry with devastating impact. www.seashepherd.org
For more information or to interview Captain Paul Watson Contact: Carolina Castro at carolina@seashepherd.org or call 1-818-281-1673
To interview Alexandra Morton: 250-974-7086
Attachments
Carolina Castro Sea Shepherd Conservation Society 4073358656 carolina@seashepherd.org
