FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wild Game Fish Conservation International Supports ISA and HSMI Research Olympia, Washington (December 19, 2011) - Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI) supports the ongoing efforts by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen to determine the cause(s) responsible for the significant decline over the past twenty years of wild Fraser River sockeye salmon. Expert testimony provided during recent Cohen Commission special hearings associated with detections of the Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (ISAv) in wild Pacific salmon clearly indicates the need for additional research to better understand the correlation between ISAv and Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), a salmon killing disease. Additionally, it was reported during these hearings that Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI), another salmon killing disease, was confirmed in open net, chinook salmon feedlots sited in British Columbia. US President Barak Obama recently signed into US Law legislation (HR2112) promoting the need for US and Canadian scientists to work transparently and expeditiously to identify potential implications of ISA to the multibillion dollar wild Pacific salmon industry and to collaboratively develop a rapid response strategy to an ISA outbreak that could potentially impact wild Pacific salmon and their ecosystems. According to Bruce Treichler, WGFCI co-founder, “Fraser River sockeye salmon and other wild Pacific salmon species along Canada’s and America’s west coasts are vitally important to their fragile ecosystems as well as to the cultures and multi-billion dollar industries they support.” Jim Wilcox, WGFCI co-founder, said, “WGFCI, our affiliate organizations and associates around planet earth support the ongoing efforts by the United States to coordinate research between Canadian and American scientists in order to 1) confirm that ISAv is present in wild Pacific salmon, 2) determine the potential impacts of ISA to wild Pacific salmon and to farmed Atlantic salmon in Canada and in America and 3) develop a rapid response strategy to minimize adverse impacts of ISA, HSMI and other salmon diseases to wild Pacific salmon, their sensitive ecosystems and to the cultures and economies that rely on them”. WGFCI urges Canada and America to:
collaborate transparently during increased research into known and unknown salmon diseases collaborate transparently while developing strategies to respond effectively to ISA, HSMI and other disease detections and outbreaks in wild Pacific salmon monitor salmon feedlots, salmon hatcheries, imported salmon eggs and commercially harvested salmon for ISA, HSMI and other potentially harmful salmon diseases . inform world health organizations and government agencies in the event of an ISA, HSMI or other salmon disease outbreak.
### Contact: James Wilcox Publisher, Legacy Wild Game Fish Conservation International (360) 352-7988