Disease dangerous
for spawning salmon
VANCOUVER, British Colum
bia — Scientists are trying to
identify disease outbreaks
threatening commercially valu
able salmon stocks that are
preparing to spawn in water
sheds throughout British Colum
bia.
Deaths reported among the first
sockeye arriving at the Adams
River already number in the
“tens of thousands,’’ said Jay
Hartling of the federal Fisheries
Department.
More than 680,000 fish are ex
pected to arrive at the Adams sys
tem over the next few weeks.
“At first, they thought it was a
gill infection,” Hartling said.
“Now they think it’s some kind of
kidney parasite.”
No similar problem has been
found among sockeye in Wash
ington State, said Joan Thomas,
health specialist with the state
Fish and Wildlife Department.
“We have very limited sockeye
populations in Washington, and
none of them are having any
problems,” with parasites, she
said.
Sockeye runs began in June up
the Skagit-Baker River system in
Skagit County and in Lake Wash
ington, Thomas said.
At Weaver Creek, just south of
Harrison Lake in British Colum
bia, federal fisheries manager Vic
Ewart confirmed that early ar
rivals of sockeye salmon are dy
ing in significant numbers.
Mortalities numbered in “the
low thousands,” but the bulk of
an expected run of 200,000 sock
eye has not yet arrived, he said.
“We don’t know the extent of it
yet,” he said. “It’s too early to
tell.”
The cause of the Weaver Creek
deaths hasn’t yet been identified,
but it appears similar to the
Adams River outbreak, Ewart
said.
Meanwhile, at Scott Cove
Creek among the islands which
lie between the north end of Van
couver Island and the mainland,
a killer whale researcher said she
has been catching escaped At
lantic salmon displaying symp
toms of a highly contagious dis
ease that recently ravaged fish
farms and wild stocks in Norway.
“We’re catching them right out
of the same pool where we catch
wild coho,” Alexandra Morton
said.
Earlier this month, an estimat
ed 30,000 Atlantic salmon es
caped from a fish farm in the area.
Two specimens she caught had
large pus-filled boils that are
symptoms of a disease called fu
runculosis, Morton said.
The boils on one of the fish had
already ruptured, dispersing the
highly contagious bacteria among
the spawning coho that local
groups have been working to re
store, she said.
“It’s so contagious,” she said.
“This bacteria can last in water. It
can thrive on wet wood.”
She said she’s particularly con
cerned because the stream where
she’s been finding the escaped At
lantics is adjacent to a main mi
gration route for many salmon
stocks heading for the Fraser Riv
er system and its many tribu
taries.
The provincial Environment
Ministry was investigating,
spokesman Earl Warnock said.
The Associated Press
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