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SECOND DEADLY SALMON VIRUS FOUND IN NORWEGIAN FISH FARMS
New HSMI salmon virus feared in Chile
THURSDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2011 STEVE ANDERSON
Leaves 20 percent mortality rate in its wake.
A new salmon virus that destroys the muscle and heart tissue of salmon has been confirmed in Chilean waters, Chile’s National Fish Services Agency (Sernapesca) reported early this month.
Photo by Norsk Havbrukssenter/Flickr.
The disease – called heart and skeletal muscle inflammation, or HSMI – was first detected in Norway in 1999. Research in Norway confirmed the virus’ presence last year at 417 salmon farms there (both fresh and salt water) and that it has 20 percent mortality rate for infected fish.
Sernapesca first suspected HSMI could be present in Chilean waters last June, but refused to say so on record, despite repeated questioning from the local El Llanquihue newspaper.
But early this month Sernapesca’s Director Juan Luis Ansoleaga finally confirmed the virus’ presence in Chilean waters in an interview given to the Santiago-based Diario Financiero, conceding that current Sernapesca research confirms HSMI presence in 10 Chilean salmon farms.
Still, Ansoleaga discounted the virus’ potential impact on Chile’s industry, insisting that the mortality rate for the virus in Chile varies “between one and three percent,” even while acknowledging a 15 percent mortality rate in special cases.
News of this new virus threat come just as Chile’s salmon farm industry is recovering from the dramatic effects left several years ago by a major infection of the ISA virus, a virus that is also believed to have originated in Norway, the world’s largest salmon farm producing country.
Only recently has salmon, Chile’s third most important export, returned to pre-ISA levels
of production.
By Steve Anderson (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/patagon...s/22722-new-hsmi-salmon-virus-feared-in-chile
New HSMI salmon virus feared in Chile
THURSDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2011 STEVE ANDERSON
Leaves 20 percent mortality rate in its wake.
A new salmon virus that destroys the muscle and heart tissue of salmon has been confirmed in Chilean waters, Chile’s National Fish Services Agency (Sernapesca) reported early this month.
Photo by Norsk Havbrukssenter/Flickr.
The disease – called heart and skeletal muscle inflammation, or HSMI – was first detected in Norway in 1999. Research in Norway confirmed the virus’ presence last year at 417 salmon farms there (both fresh and salt water) and that it has 20 percent mortality rate for infected fish.
Sernapesca first suspected HSMI could be present in Chilean waters last June, but refused to say so on record, despite repeated questioning from the local El Llanquihue newspaper.
But early this month Sernapesca’s Director Juan Luis Ansoleaga finally confirmed the virus’ presence in Chilean waters in an interview given to the Santiago-based Diario Financiero, conceding that current Sernapesca research confirms HSMI presence in 10 Chilean salmon farms.
Still, Ansoleaga discounted the virus’ potential impact on Chile’s industry, insisting that the mortality rate for the virus in Chile varies “between one and three percent,” even while acknowledging a 15 percent mortality rate in special cases.
News of this new virus threat come just as Chile’s salmon farm industry is recovering from the dramatic effects left several years ago by a major infection of the ISA virus, a virus that is also believed to have originated in Norway, the world’s largest salmon farm producing country.
Only recently has salmon, Chile’s third most important export, returned to pre-ISA levels
of production.
By Steve Anderson (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/patagon...s/22722-new-hsmi-salmon-virus-feared-in-chile