Recent tests of salmon from waters off Washington state show no signs of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), state, tribal and federal resource managers said Thursday.
The ISA virus was not detected in tissue samples taken from more than 900 wild and hatchery-produced Pacific king, coho, sockeye, chum and steelhead, as well as farm-raised Atlantic salmon.
Specific strains of the virus have caused a deadly disease in farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Outbreaks with significant losses have occurred in farmed Atlantic salmon in Maine, Eastern Canada, Chile and several European countries.
ISA has not been documented in farmed, wild or hatchery salmon in Washington.
John Kerwin, Fish Health Program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), said concerns about the possibility of the virus occurring in Washington’s salmon prompted the recent tests, which are part of a two-year monitoring program specifically designed to detect ISA.
“Our traditional testing protocols would have detected most – but not all – of the disease-causing strains of ISA virus,”...
