Millar Channel farm is now empty

The last of the fish from Millar Channel farm have been removed and the site is now empty. The fish were taken to a rendering facility.

Mainstream Canada is now focused on developing a plan for cleaning and disinfecting the farm site, as per the requirements of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

"This is an unfortunate incident, but we are pleased with how smoothly the depopulation procedure went considering the situation," said Fernando Villarroel, Mainstream Canada's managing director. "We are pleased with how the CFIA acted quickly to confirm the virus.  Early detection of infectious diseases and swift and decisive actions help the long term sustainability of our business as responsible farmers."

On Friday, July 27, the IHN virus was detected after routine monitoring at one of Mainstream Canada's Tofino-area smolt farms. The detection was reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which quarantined the site.

On Tuesday Aug. 7, CFIA reported that the presence of the virus had been confirmed, and issued an order to depopulate the site.

The initial tests done to detect the IHN virus also included screening for the presence of the ISA and VHS viruses and the bacteria which causes BKD. Both screening and confirmatory tests were only positive for IHN.

The IHN virus is a high risk to farmed salmon, but low risk to wild salmon, which carry it naturally with no health effects. IHN is no risk to humans.

Mainstream Canada is one of the largest salmon farming companies in British Columbia with 27 farm sites, four land-based hatcheries, 1 processing plant and over 260+ employees.

For more information about IHN, please see our previous press releases on our website, including our fact sheet.

Media contact: Laurie Jensen, Communications and Corporate Sustainability Manager
250-286-0022 (office) laurie.jensen@mainstreamcanada.com