• Maria urges research into deadly salmon virus: "We need to act now to protect the Pacific NW’s coastal econ. & jobs"

Seattle Times – State and federal scientists concerned about news that two wild sockeye smolts have been found carrying a highly contagious virus related to one that killed millions of farmed salmon in Chile agree on this: they need more information.

Three Northwest senators want them to get it.

Late Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich asked Congress to require federal agencies to research the risks and threats from the discovery and report back on their findings within six months.

The senators are proposing an amendment to an agricultural appropriations bill that would kick off an emergency research effort to figure out how much of a threat the virus may pose to wild, hatchery and farmed salmon in Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California.

“We need to act now to protect the Pacific Northwest’s coastal economy and jobs,” Cantwell said in a statement. “Infectious salmon anemia could pose a serious threat to Pacific Northwest wild salmon and the thousands of Washington state jobs that rely on them. We have to get a coordinated game plan in place to protect our salmon and stop the spread of this deadly virus.”

The proposed amendment comes just two days after researchers at Simon Fraser University announced the results of laboratory testing that revealed two of 48 sockeye smolts tested from Rivers Inlet in northern British Columbia were carrying infectious salmon anemia, also known as ISA. It’s the first time the virus — which in its virulent form has been found to be deadly to Atlantic salmon, but harmless to humans ­– has been documented along the Pacific Coast.

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