Sunshine Coast fish farm quarantined by possible outbreak of salmon virus

VANCOUVER – A B.C.-based salmon-farming company has voluntarily quarantined one of its facilities as officials investigate the apparent outbreak of a dangerous virus.

Greig Seafood says its farm on Culloden Point, in Jervis Inlet on the Sunshine Coast, north of Vancouver, has produced preliminary positive results for the IHN virus.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is doing more tests and final confirmation is expected over the weekend.

A release from Greig says the virus is not a risk to humans, and wild fish in the Pacific have a natural immunity, but IHN can be deadly to Atlantic salmon raised in the fish farms.

In May, the virus was confirmed at one Vancouver Island fish farm operated by Mainstream Canada, and all the fish at its Tofino-area facility were destroyed.

Precautionary quarantines were also imposed on two other farms in May, including a Greig Seafood operation on the Sunshine Coast, but final tests showed IHN had not infected those fish. (The Canadian Press)