The Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture associate deputy minister, Greg Roach, has released a statement on the ISA scare at Cooke Aquaculture.
He said that the province's routine fish health management programme recently identified a suspected case of infectious salmon anemia at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm. Federal-provincial policy was immediately followed and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was informed of the test result and fish samples were sent to them for confirmation.
He says that it is important for people to know they can be confident that the situation is being handled appropriately, with the best interests of Nova Scotians and the future of the seafood industry, in mind.
He continued that Cooke Aquaculture has acted proactively and, without waiting for an order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, has removed and humanely destroyed the suspected fish, which were then safely disposed of under the direction of the inspection agency.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will make a final determination on whether or not the suspect case is confirmed, a process that is expected to take a few weeks. In the meantime, the site is under quarantine by the agency which, along with the government, is doing further testing.
