Will Soltau is Sustainable Fisheries and Salmon Farming Campaign Manager for Living Oceans Society.A while back I blogged about the outbreaks of the IHN virus at salmon feedlots in BC and how they may have been avoidable if a vaccine was used. As it turns out, 2012 was a bad year for disease outbreaks in the Canadian salmon feedlots on both west and east coasts. A lot of money was invested with no return. More money was spent culling fish under depopulation orders from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. On top of that, Chile rebounded after their three year ISA epidemic and began re-supplying the market, driving prices down and squeezing margins in B.C. And when you add on the cost of a million dollar BC ad campaign with a high rent agency just before and during the downturn, a better example of throwing good money after bad would be hard to find. It's no wonder the salmon aquaculture spin doctors are so snarky these days.
What just recently came to light is the incidental catch associated with one of those disease events. 2.5 tonnes of Pacific herring that were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time were sucked out of the net pens along with the sick Atlantic salmon. "*The incidental catch of herring at this facility occurred during a planned depopulation to control the spread of Infectious Haematopoietic Necrosis virus (IHNv)."
