SEATTLE (AP) — Three weeks after a virus was found in two juvenile wild sockeye on the Pacific Coast, it has been found again — this time in wild salmon from British Columbia’s Fraser River.
The Seattle Times (http://bit.ly/vS3FjC) reports the discovery has caused anxiety among researchers and salmon farmers, but it’s too early to say if it signals a fish crisis.
Researchers, salmon farmers and wild-salmon advocates have been on alert since mid-October.
While the virus poses no harm to humans, a related strain killed tens of millions of farmed Atlantic salmon in Chile in 2007 and 2008.
On Sunday, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell toured a U.S. Geological Survey laboratory in Seattle that specializes in fish diseases to highlight the efforts to create plans to deal with the virus if it spreads.
