Salmon certificate ban a temporary measure

Press, 1 June 1985, Page 23

Salmon certificate ban a temporary measure

The ban on certifying salmon exports to the United States is an interim measure only. This was emphasised by the director of animal health with the Ministry of Agriculture arid Fisheries, Dr Peter O’Hara yesterday. Dr O’Hara said the most significant effect of the discovery of whirling disease in trout at the Glenariffe Salmon Research Station was the interference with certification of salmon exports to the United States. The research station has been placed under quarantine until further studies have been made.

Publicity about that measure affected the price of New Zealand Salmon Company shares on the stock market, in spite of the company’s hatchery being on a different river system from the Rakaia.

“The whole purpose of applying quarantine is to ensure that our good standing in respect of certification is not jeopardised,’’ Dr O’Hara said.

Certification depends on the routine testing of fish stocks to ensure that sea cages and river systems are free of infection.

The Ministry required time to document the nature and extent of contact

between its Glenariffe centre and salmon farms so that it could be satisfied the certificates were a true reflection of the status of the farms, he said. Most farms had obtained only salmon eggs from Glenariffe.

“Since eggs are not susceptible to whirling disease, the risk of transfer of infection is very low,” Dr O’Hara said.

“For this reason, most farms are regarded as not being at risk.” The present system of certification may have to be altered for some types of farming operations. The Ministry considers that it will be possible to develop other systems which are acceptable to the American authorities, Dr O’Hara said.

The comparison in some news reports of whirling disease with foot and mouth disease was quite misleading, both in terms of the differing nature of the two diseases and in terms of impact on certification he said.

Although several hatcheries on the Rakaia had been put under quarantine, this did not necessarily mean that they were infected Dr O’Hara said. The New Zealand Salmon Company’s directors say

they are concerned at “inaccurate and sensational” reports on the extent of whirling disease in rainbow trout at Glenariffe.

The price of the company’s shares plummeted yesterday by 65c to 275 c. The directors said in a statement: “The reports to date have placed the company’s shareholders in an unjustifiable and unnecessarily negative situation.” The directors said that the facts, supported by Dr O’Hara, were: • The outbreak had affected only a small number of rainbow trout at the hatchery. • There was no suggestion that the New Zealand Salmon Company’s operation was exposed to a disease risk because of this outbreak. • There was no evidence that salmon could contract whirling disease — its incidence had been restricted to rainbow trout.

• There was no biological problem with the company’s salmon stocks.

• Certificates of export to the United States have been suspended as an interim measure only. • The interim measure did not affect the company’s United States export programme as no further exporting was planned until

late 1985. Other countries that New Zealand Salmon was targeting for fish sales were not affected. The chief executive of New Zealand Marine Farms Ltd, Dr Paul O’Connor, said the withdrawal of certification for salmon exports should be temporary and would not affect the operations and earnings of his company. Dr O’Connor said Marine Farms had completed its exports for the season and would not have fish available for overseas markets until later in the year. He said all the company’s salmon farming facilities were well outside the Rakaia River catchment area where whirling disease had been located. “The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had declared our Hurunui River and Kaniere River farm sites, and our Marlborough Sounds sea cage operations free of the disease,” he said. Marine Farms has taken appropriate precautions to remove the minimal risk of disease transfer from the affected area to its own facilities. “The Ministry has also agreed that we are at substantially less risk of disease transfer because of our locations elsewhere,” Dr O’Connor said.