"It's prudent when you have cases like this to get this out to the public.''
Why do these preliminary results have to made public, Chris? Is there a risk to public safety here? That would have to be "no" based on the fact that ISAv is fatal to fish but not to humans. If there was a risk to public safety at that point then I would tend to agree with opponents, but there isn't. We are not talking about Red Tide here. Are we told preliminary results for other livestock?
The key word is "preliminary". Final confirmation is made by the CFIA. Carr says that "without the public knowing what's going on a lot of rumours and wildfires can happen". True, but to a point, because preliminary results can be misinterpreted as being final results. Once results are confirmed they are released to the public, so I don't understand all the "huff" either. The fish farm did what they were supposed to do under law the by notifying government authorities; however, they went further by removing all the fish from the pen before final confirmation by the CFIA. Again, this is done because by the time final confirmation is made (up to 2 weeks) the virus could spread and cause disease outbreaks in other adjacent farms. Because the company decided to cull these fish before an order from the CFIA they are NOT eligible for compensation under legislation.
I believe the need for this information to be released at earlier stages is for opponent's desire to criticize the industry. It's definitely not for public safety. Opponents are wasting their time creating all this paranoia about fish viruses because they should realize that all these viruses come from the wild in the first place. Don't go to sport fishing if you don't like pathogens in your fish.
Kinda thought this latest post by Chris would interest you Steve. Of course this is the usual crap trotted out by the anti salmon farmers, whenever it's a slow month/year to further their cause, and is so typical of the fear mongering regarding salmon farming in BC and Washington.
Imo, people really need to understand there are huge biological differences between farming Atlantic's where they are indigenous, (Eastern Canada, Maine, Norway, Scotland , Britain, Ireland, etc) and farming Atlantic's here. And that's why after over 40 years of salmon farming here on the Pacific (Chile is another, totally isolated story), there are no documented cases of any disease transfer from farmed to wild fish, no interbreeding of escaped Atlantic's with Pacific's, no ISA outbreaks
nothing to show farming Atlantic's in BC or Washington has impacted long term populations of wild Pacific's. But that doesn't seem to matter to many whose minds are made up.
Oh well, on with the show, and I'm sure lot's of people will show up to be filmed.
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Topic: Get your facts straight? (Read 1341965 times)