New Threat for West Coasters Who Stock Wild Salmon in Their Preps (cow, good)

[stonecypher5413]

Well, the dangers aren't imminent and maybe the two infected samples were anomalies, but I'd be following this development if I fished for salmon anywhere on the West Coast from B.C. northward:

Scientists in Washington state are working to improve testing of a deadly, contagious marine virus as a precaution, after the virus was detected in wild salmon for the first time on the West Coast.

Two hair-raising quotes from the article:

"This is potentially very big. It's of big concern to us," said John Kerwin, who supervises the fish health unit at the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"It's a disease emergency," said James Winton, who directs the fish health section of the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Fisheries Research Center in Seattle.

The anemia-causing virus is contagious and fatal to wild fish stocks. A possible source of the virus? Atlantic salmon farms in B.C. Which makes reading this other thread about "Frankenfish" a good idea before making up your mind how this latest news will affect your stocking wild salmon you catch in your preps:

//www.city-data.com/forum/polit...n-contact.html

Deadly salmon virus raises concerns in US, Canada - seattlepi.com (http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Deadly-salmon-virus-raises-concerns-in-Wash-2224582.php - broken link)

[Nor'Eastah]

Would it be killed by thorough cooking?

[stonecypher5413]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Would it be killed by thorough cooking?

I emailed Mr. Winton and got this reply:

Infectious salmon anemia virus will not grow at the human body temperature and cannot infect people (or other warm-blooded species) eating salmon, cooked or not.

Hope this helps.

So it looks like the "threat" from this virus means a possible decimation of the native stocks for your prepping goals, not actually from eating the fish you catch. It would be prudent to follow news stories about the virus, to see if it's as dangerous as the biologists quoted in the article indicated.

That's a relief, of course, but it's still scary how the emergence of this virus might affect something those of us who live and fish on the West Coast have always taken for granted.

I'm going to be a lot more appreciative of my next poached salmon fillet dinner!

[Pruzhany]

So first we had a cow problem, then we had a bird problem, then we had a veggy problem, then we had a fruit problem and now we have a fish problem.

It almost looks like the movie Soylent Green is about to become a reality.