A disease once only found in farmed fish is now in wild B.C. salmon
Researchers have identified a bacterial disease called tenacibaculosis in wild British Columbia salmon, a condition previously observed only in farmed fish. This discovery provides evidence that marine bacteria can negatively impact the health of wild salmon populations.
Why it matters
The findings raise concerns about the transmission of diseases between farmed and wild fish populations and the overall health of marine ecosystems.
A new study reveals that some wild B.C. salmon have been discovered with a disease previously only found in farmed fish.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) found a bacterial disease in several wild Chinook salmon known as tenacibaculosis, which causes skin and fin ulcers and fish mortality.
In 2022, UBC scientists were working on an entirely different study on the impacts of catch-and-release, in B.C.’s Barley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. But a few days into the study, they noticed “unusual bacterial lesions developing on some of the fish,” said Katie Zinn, with UBC’s Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Lab, and co-author of the study, in a release .
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