Provincial veterinarian corrects Alexandra Morton's erroneous testimony, April 21, 2010
Last week, long time anti-salmon farming activist Alexandra Morton gave testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans in Ottawa. Her allegations of SLICE© resistant sea lice, likely presence of ISA on Marine Harvest salmon farms and general proliferation of disease at salmon farms were as shocking as they were untrue.
In rebuttal, Dr. Mark Sheppard, chief fish veterinarian with the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, testified to the same committee that her statements about the presence of ISA and SLICE© resistant sea lice are completely false. He went on to praise the salmon farming industry for its responsible and effective health management practices that prevent disease and result in an astounding 97% survival.
Click on these links to read both testimonies for yourself.
Dr. Mark Sheppard, April 14, 2010
Alexandra Morton, April 12, 2010
For your reference, here are a few excepts from Dr. Mark Sheppard's testimony:
“The Animal Health branch has monitored and analyzed routinely and reported the status of lice and disease on B.C. salmon farms for the past seven or eight years. From that we can claim that the ecosystem, as it relates to salmon aquaculture, remains healthy and sustainable.”
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“The management of lice in British Columbia is very much under control. In general, the lice abundance on both farmed and wild fry have actually declined for five consecutive years.”
“Sea lice, as you know, are naturally-occurring parasites, as common as fleas on a dog and we are not going to get rid of them from our ecosystems.”
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“The Pacific Ocean louse is genetically different from Atlantic Ocean louse, which is a problem in Europe and in eastern Canada. This largely explains in British Columbia why we have not seen the lice-related damage that the other aquaculture regions experience. That genetic different … Is basically equivalent to comparing a human to a chimpanzee.”
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“Yes and again, we’ll reiterate that there is no evidence to substantiate that allegation that there is drug resistance to SLICE by lice in British Columbia. To make such a claim, in my opinion, is misleading and quite frankly, irresponsible.”
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“The changes and the ups and downs in lice abundance patterns are common and are readily explained by environmental and farming events.”
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“Fresh new populations of lice come to B.C. from wild fish as they return to the B.C. coastline at the end of each summer and there is insufficient evidence to substantiate the claim that lice in British Columbia are resistant to the one drug that we use.
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“Some people – who are not qualified to make comments on it in my opinion – have decided to put forth a wildly speculative conclusion based on a graph which I think I’ve explained to you have many other factors that needed to be considered before any conclusion was made on that point.
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In response to the question of whether other veterinarians agreed with Morton’s perception of SLICE resistance: “I know of none. In fact, the opposite, they are vehemently opposed to her opinion of that.”
