Re: Angela Koch’s letter in Friday’s Mirror:
Members of the BC Salmon Farmers Association regularly have independent and third-party labs test the health of our fish – it is, of course critical to our business that constantly monitor the health of our farm-raised salmon to keep them healthy, and to meet regulations set to keep wild salmon and other fish healthy.
The management of a naturally occurring fish disease that has infected a salmon farm on the west coast of Vancouver Island is an excellent example of how farm companies use their own in-house monitoring protocols along with multiple external labs to assess, identify and manage any fish health event. Those labs – which include the provincial veterinary laboratory and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ Pacific Biological Station – are providing results to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Our companies are following all direction from government agencies, being proactive in their management and sharing significant amounts of information. This event is being handled professionally and efficiently.
Finally – Ms. Koch has never contacted the BC Salmon Farmers Association directly for answers to any of her questions. If she or any of your other readers would like mailing and email addresses, that is all available on our website.
Mary Ellen Walling,
B.C. Salmon Farmers Association