Once again, FOCS gets its facts wrong

The Friends of Clayoquot Sound (FOCS) continue to make erroneous and false statements about our salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound, despite having access to the correct information.

In their latest attack on our operations and on our Plover Point farm site application, they claim that we have had three outbreaks of IHN virus. This is not true. We have only had two confirmed cases of IHN virus at our farms.

We first detected the virus at our Dixon Bay farm in May. The virus was confirmed and we responded by quickly removing all the fish from the site and safely disposing of them.

Also in May, we received a false positive result for fish at our Bawden Point farm. Despite seven more rounds of testing, the virus could not be confirmed as present. A single false positive test is not an outbreak of virus.

We detected the virus at our Millar Channel farm in July.The virus was confirmed and we responded by quickly removing all the fish from the site and safely disposing of them.

FOCS also suggests we are lying, by making up a claim and attributing it to us.

"Mainstream claims their proposed vaccination of fish at Plover Point if approved would prevent IHNv outbreaks. Yet they don't currently vaccinate. Why would we believe they would vaccinate at Plover Point?"

We have never made this claim, and it is inappropriate for FOCS to suggest we are lying by attributing to us claims we have never made.

They also again have their facts wrong. We do currently vaccinate all our fish. At the hatchery, we vaccinate them against many common diseases and viruses they encounter in the ocean. We sometimes use a specific IHN vaccine as an added precaution in areas where our farms are near other companies' farms. We did not use it at our Dixon and Millar sites.

However, although IHN is endemic in the wild salmon population, it rarely ever affects our fish. The last case was 10 years ago. We leave it to our professional veterinarians to decide when it is necessary to use the IHN vaccine, which it should be mentioned, has not yet been fully field-tested.

We have said we will reconsider using the vaccine, and if we do use it in Clayoquot Sound, the Plover Point site would be included.

We farm salmon based on good science and good animal husbandry practices. Anyone who wants to know more is always welcome to ask questions, and visit our website for more information.