Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Federal Court Rules Farmed Salmon Must Be Tested For Deadly Virus In B.C.

The Canadian Press, 05 Feb, 2019 08:45 PM
  • Federal Court Rules Farmed Salmon Must Be Tested For Deadly Virus In B.C.

VANCOUVER — The Federal Court has struck down a Fisheries and Oceans Canada policy regarding a lethal virus that has the potential to infect wild chinook salmon in British Columbia waters.


Piscine orthoreovirus, or PRV, is highly contagious and often found in fish farms off the B.C. coast, many of which are positioned along wild salmon migration routes.


In her ruling issued Monday, Justice Cecily Strickland says the federal policy unlawfully allows young farmed Atlantic salmon to be transferred into open net pens without testing for the virus.


She has given the department four months to begin testing for the disease.


PRV causes fatal heart and skeletal muscle inflammation in Atlantic salmon but a 2018 study led by a Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientist found it is linked to an equally deadly type of anemia in at least one species of wild B.C. salmon.


Marine biologist Alexandra Morton is celebrating the victory after working with the Namgis First Nation and Ecojustice to convince the Fisheries Department to test farmed salmon before they are put in open net pens.


She says the problem is that PRV screening could dramatically reduce profits in the aquaculture industry.


"If the minister of fisheries follows the law of Canada and screens these fish and does not allow the infected ones to go into the water, I don't think the fish farm industry has enough fish to keep farming in these waters, and I think that is the crux of the problem," Morton says.


Morton and the Namgis filed a lawsuit last year against the policy.


Strickland's judgement, released Monday, says the federal policy of not testing for the virus "perpetuates a state of wilful blindness on the part of the minister with respect to the extend of PRV infection in hatcheries and fish farms."


An emailed statement from Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Jonathan Wilkinson says the court ruling is being reviewed.


"Our government understands that a strong, science-based approach to regulating the aquaculture industry is essential and that is why we have and will continue to conduct extensive research which informs our policies and regulations," Wilkinson says in the statement.

MORE National ARTICLES

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan Apologizes For 'Whack' Tweet Aimed At Premier Doug Ford

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan Apologizes For 'Whack' Tweet Aimed At Premier Doug Ford
OTTAWA — A Liberal MP from Toronto has apologized for a tweet sent Saturday morning that many on Twitter took as a threat against Ontario Premier Doug Ford.    

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan Apologizes For 'Whack' Tweet Aimed At Premier Doug Ford

Frigid Winnipeg: Does 1 Of The Planet'S Coldest Big Cities Need Warming Centre?

Frigid Winnipeg: Does 1 Of The Planet'S Coldest Big Cities Need Warming Centre?
WINNIPEG — In a city where winter can be almost guaranteed to bring temperatures below -30 C, saving homeless people and other vulnerable persons from severe frostbite or even death is a complex project.    

Frigid Winnipeg: Does 1 Of The Planet'S Coldest Big Cities Need Warming Centre?

RCMP Divers On Frozen Saskatchewan Lake Find Remains From Decades-Old Crash

"I was happy that I could talk to them and impress upon them how important it was for our family to just see this through. They understood completely."

RCMP Divers On Frozen Saskatchewan Lake Find Remains From Decades-Old Crash

Arrests Made In Death Of SFU Professor Ramazan Gencay In Colombia

Arrests have been made in the case of a British Columbia university professor found dead in Colombia.

Arrests Made In Death Of SFU Professor Ramazan Gencay In Colombia

Report Finds 'Sexual Misconduct' By Leader Of Halifax-Based Buddhist Church

Two claims of sexual misconduct against the Halifax-based spiritual leader of the Shambhala International Buddhist organization have been found to be credible, a long-awaited independent probe has found.

Report Finds 'Sexual Misconduct' By Leader Of Halifax-Based Buddhist Church

RCMP Suspend Search For Missing B.C. Rancher Ben Tyner After Nearly A Week

RCMP Suspend Search For Missing B.C. Rancher Ben Tyner After Nearly A Week
MERRITT, B.C. — Police have suspended the search for a missing rancher in the wilderness north of Merritt, B.C., after six days of exhaustive effort turned up nothing.

RCMP Suspend Search For Missing B.C. Rancher Ben Tyner After Nearly A Week