Salmon-Killing Virus Seen for First Time in the Wild on the Pacific Coast

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/science/18salmon.html

October 17, 2011

A lethal and highly contagious marine virus has been detected for the first time in wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest, researchers in British Columbia said on Monday, stirring concern that it could spread there, as it has in Chile, Scotland and elsewhere.

Farms hit by the virus, infectious salmon anemia, have lost 70 percent or more of their fish in recent decades. But until now, the virus, which does not affect humans, had never been confirmed on the West Coast of North America.

The researchers, from Simon Fraser University and elsewhere, said at a news conference in Vancouver that the virus had been found in 2 of 48 juvenile fish collected as part of a study of sockeye salmon in Rivers Inlet, on the central coast of British Columbia. The study was undertaken after scientists observed a decline in the number of young sockeye.

Richard Routledge, an environmental scientist at the university who leads the sockeye study, suggested that the virus had spread from the province’s aquaculture industry, which has imported millions of Atlantic salmon eggs over the last 25 years, primarily from Iceland and Scandinavia. He acknowledged that no direct evidence of that link existed, but noted that the two fish had tested positive for the European strain of infectious salmon anemia.

The virus could have “a devastating impact” not just on the region’s farmed and wild salmon but on the many species that depend on them in the food web, like grizzly bears, killer whales and wolves, Dr. Routledge said. “No country has ever gotten rid of it once it arrives,” he said in a statement.

An earlier story on the topic:

July 31st, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/opinion/about-that-salmon.html

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Looks like smoked salmon is about to get even more expensive.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

It's a wonder Humankind has survived so long on the Planet,they're SO destructive.

Looks like Critical Mass has been reached for Unrestrained,Unregulated Aquaculture!

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

Factory fish farming. We're surprised at this?

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

10 years ago I told them so. No kidding. I had always thought this was a bad idea.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Plenty of sober, informed voices inveighed heavily against it but the miracle of the free market won out. If there's money to be made, what could go wrong?

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K