Written By Alexandra Morton

A major TV news station aired an investigative piece a couple of nights ago on their evening news show, about Kudoa infested farm salmon fillets for sale at COSTCOs. The reporter goes undercover to interview a COSTCO employee:

Kudoa is a flesh borne farm salmon parasite that liquifies the flesh of the fish after it is killed.  DFO has tried to help the industry figure out how to prevent it:  but Kudoa caused $4 million dollars (NOK 23 million) in losses for Marine Harvest in BC last year

Many people are asking if it is healthy to eat Kudoa.  A different species of Kudoa was related to food poisoning in Japan. I am unclear if tests have been done on the species that has become epidemic in BC farm salmon. Best to write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

In another development, while the governments of Canada and BC refuse to acknowledge that BC Atlantic farm salmon are testing positive for highly contagious and lethal European salmon viruses this note on their website was brought to my attention.

"Under some circumstances, under the Health of Animals Act, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency may need to treat wild fish populations to control fish pathogens that may have been introduced into Canadian waters." (see Q4)

There is no treatment for these European viruses and unless they are referring to other "introduced" pathogens I have not found yet, I can only imagine they are considering culling wild salmon that test positive for European viruses to protect the farm salmon.  If you want to investigate this please write to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Feel free to cc me.

I hope you will consider joining over 11,000 people in asking supermarkets to stop selling diseased farm salmon.  I don't see any other way to deal with this issue.  Every other region in the world that encounters these viruses has taken action - except BC - which is the only salmon farmed region in the world with an extremely valuable wild Pacific salmon fishery at risk.  Our governments are immobilized caught between aggressive lobbyists and trade laws.

SIGN PETITION HERE

CONTRIBUTE TO OUR LAB BILLS

I am working on a solution to government's abandonment of BC wild salmon - more later.

Hope you are getting some time to relax and enjoy summer.  Thank you for your involvement in protecting wild salmon.

Alexandra Morton
alexandramorton.typepad.com