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A peer-reviewed study endorsed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) concludes that the transfer of the Atlantic salmon farms' orthorovirus pool (PRV) transfer poses a "minimal risk" to sockeye salmon in Canada. Fraser River.
The information, which was a "synthesis of known data" on the virus, provided a review of scientific evidence regarding the risk of Fraser River sockeye salmon on Atlantic salmon farms located on the islands. Discovery, British Columbia.
The findings, announced Thursday at a teleconference by DFO officials, have sparked skepticism among journalists. Some of them, however, questioned the timing of the presentation, the limited scope of the study and the lack of data available to support DFO's claims. .
In particular, the badertion that the "minimal risk" for wild sockeye stocks was limited by "knowledge gaps" on the smallpox virus and its impact on farmed salmon. and wild salmon.
According to scientists present at the meeting, there was more certainty about juvenile fish than adult fish, claiming that the PRV did not cause mortality in Atlantic farmed salmon and sockeye salmon. wild, even when the virus was injected in large doses.
Screening decision for juvenile virus in juvenile salmon
DFO Director of Aquaculture Science, Biotechnology and Fish Health, Jay Parsons, was present at the teleconference, as were the two scientific experts who co-chaired the review by peers.
What is PRV?
Faced with questions about the sample size of the peer review (how many fish were tested), why was the scope of the study so narrow (focusing only on the The impact of PRV transfer from Atlantic salmon stocks to Fraser River sockeye stocks), and why they published the summary of findings without the corresponding data, the answer was never written.
When asked if the decision to go to the media was a reaction to the ruling made Monday by a Canadian federal judge, which made it mandatory to screen the virus for prevalence prevalence before salmon Farmers may be transferred from land-based smolt facilities to open net pens in British Columbia – Parsons said there had been "discussions" about the presentation even before the Justice Cecily Strickland rescinds DFO's existing policy.
When asked directly whether the farm salmon was infected with the plum pox virus at the smolt stage or once in the net cages, one expert stated that it was "very widespread". in the net pens and the fish were already infected with the disease.
Full report coming soon
Conference participants were reminded that risk badessment was the sixth in a series of 10 pathogen transfer badessments for farmed Atlantic salmon in Fraser River sockeye salmon, and that the full report will be published in late spring, this year.
DFO's Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) conducted the study from January 28 to 30 with 33 peer review participants, including 15 DFO employees.
It also included national and international experts, including environmental non-governmental organizations, indigenous groups, academia, the aquaculture sector, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and the Canadian Environmental Protection Agency. 39, Food Inspection and British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture.
Although RVP is an emerging disease in farmed salmon, important research has been conducted on this topic. A study conducted in 2017 by the North West Pacific Fish Health Protection Committee and a researcher from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game revealed that the risk of PRV for wild Pacific salmon was low.
This study cites research demonstrating that PRV was present in wild and cultured salmon tissue in British Columbia waters as early as 1977.
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