U.S. Response to a Report of Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus in Western North America

ABSTRACT

Federal, state, and tribal fishery managers, as well as the general public and their elected representatives in the United States, were concerned when infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) was suspected for the first time in free-ranging Pacific Salmon collected from the coastal areas of British Columbia, Canada. This article documents how national and regional fishery managers and fish health specialists of the U.S. worked together and planned and implemented actions in response to the reported finding of ISAV in British Columbia. To date, the reports by Simon Fraser University remain unconfirmed and preliminary results from collaborative U.S. surveillance indicate that there is no evidence of ISAV in U.S. populations of free-ranging or marine-farmed salmonids on the west coast of North America.

RESUMEN

Los manejadores de pesquerías a nivel federal, estatal y tribal así como también el público en general y sus representantes electos en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica (EE.UU.) manifestaron su preocupación ante la sospecha de la presencia del virus de anemia infecciosa (VAIS) cuando por primera vez se detectó en salmones del Pacífico colectados en su rango natural de distribución en áreas de la Columbia Británica (CB) en Canadá. En este artículo se documenta cómo administradores de pesquerías a nivel nacional y regional y especialistas en salud acuícola de los EE.UU. trabajaron, planearon e implementaron juntos acciones en respuesta a los hallazgos de VAIS en la CB. Hasta ahora, los reportes de la Universidad Simon Fraser permanecen sin confirmación y los resultados preliminares por parte de agencias de inspección y vigilancia en los EE.UU. indican que no existe evidencia del VAIS en poblaciones de salmón marino cultivado en sus rangos naturales de distribución dentro la costa noroeste de los EE.UU.

FUNDING

The coauthors would like to recognize our respective agencies for their financial support to conduct the surveillance, research, and outreach/communication for this important topic. USDA/APHIS should be particularly recognized for their funding of laboratory testing of samples from Washington State, Alaska, and the NWIFC. The FWS should be commended for its support of these activities with both funding and regional staff involvement.

Table 1. Results from the 2012–2013 enhanced surveillance effort for infectious Salmon anemia virus (ISAV) RNA in fish sampled from Washington State. All 923 samples tested negative for ISAV RNA.

Table 2. Results from the 2012–2013 enhanced surveillance effort for infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) RNA in fish sampled from Alaska. All 1,431 samples tested negative for ISAV RNA.