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Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

Fish Health Audit and Surveillance Program (FHASP)

In November 2000, the province of British Columbia initiated a pilot Fish Health Audit and Surveillance Program (FHASP). This program continues to be one component of a larger provincial fish health policy initiative aimed at improving our knowledge of fish diseases in aquaculture facilities by determining which diseases occur routinely and identifying possible changing trends in disease occurrence. This program does not attempt to meet any federal statutory requirements for fish health import/export or fish movements; however, as this program is epidemiologically-based, the information provides an excellent review of the health status of cultured salmon stocks in the province.

The FHASP is comprised of two (2) basic components:

    • Fish health assessments (audit and surveillance), and
    • Sea lice assessments (audit and monitoring)

Aspects of the health component of the program include:

  • visits by government Fish Health Bio-technicians to marine salmon farms to monitor activities and review health-related records outlined in Fish_Health_Management_Plans;
  • collection of samples of farmed fish for active surveillance of bacteria, virus and parasites and to determine the farm-level disease events; and
  • comparison of the provincial audit results with the reports generated and submitted by the BC Salmon Farmers via their 3rd-party database. The FHASP serves to not only audit industry activities but also to monitor for indigenous, endemic and emerging pathogens of concern.

BCMAL uses a multistage sampling system with the unit of concern being the fish health sub-zone.  All active farms* within a sub-zone are assigned a random number (primary unit). Selection of the farms within a sub-zone for sampling is statistically weighted based on the fish species raised and the number of active farms in that area as a percentage of the total number of farms in the province. In other words, if an area contains 30% of the active farms then 30% of the farms eligible for audit would be randomly selected from that area. This ensures equal probability of each farm being chosen for audit sampling. For economic and staff-resource reasons, the maximum number of audits is 30 farms per 3 month period (i.e. calendar quarter). The aim is to audit up to 120 active marine fish farms each year.

There are approximately 135 marine land tenures for finfish farms, however the total number of active salmon farms is a dynamic situation due to fish movements like smolt entry and harvesting, so the farm status varies from month to month. Between 2003 and 2008 the number of active salmon farms each quarter ranged from 53 to 65 (mean = 60). Thus the audit of 30 farms each quarter means that between 46 to 56% of the active farms were audited quarterly…for fish health assessment alone; additional farms were assessed during 50 to 70 sea lice audits. More information can be found in BCMAL’s annual Fish Health Reports.

At the beginning of each calendar quarter, and in discussion with each farming company to determine which farms are active during that quarter, a list of all licensed farms is reviewed by Fish Health Bio-technicians. From that list of active farms a computer-generated random selection of marine farms is chosen for audit. Farms audits are scheduled and conducted in conjunction with the respective farm’s weekly dive or staff schedule. This allows access to the fish carcasses. This approach of “targeted disease sampling” increases the likelihood of finding infectious disease, if it is present.

The standardized sampling of fish carcasses for audit purposes occurs during routine dives or other means of carcass collection conducted by individual farms. Fish carcasses are categorised according to protocols agreed upon with industry health experts (for category definitions and more detail see Appendix 7.1 of the Fish Health Report 2007). A selection of the “fresh or fresh silver” carcasses are sampled for routine histopathology, bacteriology, virology and molecular diagnostics. Since one of the objectives of the program is to establish the occurrence of endemic disease on farms and use the information to compare to the industry-reported health information, the tissue samples collected from carcasses enhances the likelihood of detecting disease on the farms.

Tissue samples and bacterial isolates (if any) are sent to the BCMAL Animal Health Centre (AHC) in Abbotsford for evaluation. The AHC is accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). The use of a certified laboratory provides confidence in the diagnostic results due to high standards of quality assurance and quality control.

Tissues collected for molecular diagnostic screening (i.e. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)) include: head kidney, posterior kidney, liver, spleen, gill and pyloric cecae. Fresh tissue samples are pooled, to a maximum of five fish per sample, frozen and are screened using standard PCR technique to identify the following pathogens:

  • Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISAV)
  • Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus (IPNV)
  • Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV)
  • Viral Hemorrhagic Septicaemia (VHSV; North American strain)
  • Piscirickettsia salmonis (a bacteria)

If there is a PCR positive finding or a suspect viral septicaemia on clinical examination, the affected tissue pools are subsequently cultured on appropriate cell lines, or other diagnostic gold-standard test methods are applied, to confirm the diagnosis. VHSV (NA strain type IVa) and Piscirickettsia are each indigenous pathogens to British Columbia’s coast. As such, these pathogens are found in farmed fish from time to time; either seasonally (in the case of VHSV and Piscirickettsia) or after a number of years (in the case of IHNV).


* Active farms are those farms which are determined to have a minimum of 3 pens of fish on site during the quarter which sampling is to occur. This does not include broodstock.

 

Updated:  September 29, 2009