As part of the continuing battle against Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), the Maine Department of Marine Resources has issued emergency rules restricting aquaculture vessel and service equipment movement into and out of Cobscook Bay.
The new regulations went into effect on Aug. 21 and are in addition to those restrictions imposed in September, 2001.
The present regulations create a restricted zone around Cobscook Bay and impose movement restrictions on aquaculture vessels, service equipment and net pens in order to control the spread of any diseases of regulatory concern, particularly ISA, according to Andrew Fisk, aquaculture coordinator for DMR.
“These regulations presently require all such vessels that operate in Maine waters to undertake biosecurity audits to ensure best disease control practices are followed,” he added.
Fisk said several recent events prompted the implementation
of these rules.
Recent analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture staff in Eastport, he said, “has indicated that evidence of the virus that causes ISA can be detected below the water line on vessels having operated at infected sites for up to three days after leaving the site.”
He also cited “documented evidence” that a feed barge operated in Maine waters in late July, after having traveled to an ISA-positive site in Canada.
“Follow-up investigation by the [Marine Resources] Department and USDA determined that the vessel had conducted biosecurity audits and was in compliance with present procedures. Analysis of the boat hull by USDA determined that there was no evidence of ISA virus present.”
Fisk continued, “there are continuing documented outbreaks of ISA in Canadian waters in several different bay management areas. The [Marine Resources] Department wants to ensure that there are appropriate safeguards in place, given that ISA continues to be detected at New Brunswick facilities.”
DMR’s measures are too little, too late, said Bob Peacock, managing partner of R.J. Peacock Canning in Lubec. In April, he said, he had sent a copy of an article from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to Fisk and the DMR pathologist, Paul Waterstrap. “The article showed a clear connection between vessel traffic and ISA outbreaks in Scotland. Paul Waterstarp told me the CDC article was ‘bad science’ and Andy Fisk told me that ‘conditions are different in Scotland.’
“Now, four months later,” Peacock said, “they come to the same conclusions that they were given in writing from the CDC article. I told the scientists and DMR officials in February and March what was happening on the water but they obviously didn’t believe my photos and information. We will have ISA, I am sure, back in Cobscook Bay, and ISA is obviously the last thing I want to see back here.”
Fisk defended DMR’s record. “The department has exercised oversight on vessel traffic from Canadian sites for over two years, since ISA broke in Canada,” he said. We have worked closely with the farms to specify biosecurity audits, transit routes and specific disinfection protocols. This rulemaking has clarified the process for all aquaculture vessels by requiring the route log because we were confident prior to this episode with the feed barge that we had the appropriate level of oversight. This is the not the first occasion where we have been overseeing vessel traffic despite what is alleged. This is an additional process that we have added to the regulatory framework.
“We have serious concerns that the outbreaks are continuing in New Brunswick,” he continued. “This regulation will help us address those concerns. Disease management and control has to be a continuous process that can respond to different circumstances in a difficult environment to manage.”
Nell Halse, general manager of the New Brunswick Salmon Growers Association, says that farmers there are prepared to cooperate.
“This is a very serious issue, and we are in complete agreement with the new protocols put forward by DMR,” she says. “It looks like ISA is here to stay, and we need to develop new protocols to deal with it, and we also need to improve communication on both sides of the border.” She added that New Brunswick salmon farmers were scheduled to meet late August in St. George.
The new rules include the following.
“No aquaculture vessel, service equipment or net-pen may transit into the restricted zone (Cobscook Bay) from confirmed or suspected ISA-positive sites or bay management areas without verification by the Department that a complete, including below the water line, disinfection has occurred.
“The disinfection protocols developed by the Maine Aquaculture Association are the minimum routine standards to be followed.
“Logs of sites serviced and disinfection dates must be maintained by a vessel operator and will be verified by Department officials as to the disease status of those sites.
“Any aquaculture vessel transporting fish harvested as a result of an ISA outbreak cannot move into or out of the restricted zone without specific authorization from the Department. This authority presently exists in rule and the Commissioner has restricted the movement of vessels carrying harvested fish in the past. This new language clarifies this authority.”