ISAv Adopt-A-Sample Program
The initial 38 Wild Fish Conservancy samples sent to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reference lab in Norway (Dr. Are Nylund), comprised of gill and heart tissues from Chinook, chum and sockeye salmon, taken this past fall from the Skagit and Snohomish river systems and rivers of the Olympic Peninsula, were negative for infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV). However, all but one of the sockeye samples (all from the Olympic Peninsula) showed signs of disease and were positive for infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), another pathogen of salmonids common in the Pacific Northwest.
WFC continues to sample salmon carcasses from western Washington as well as Atlantic salmon gills from the region's supermarkets for ISAv. It is expensive, however to have these samples analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection method, the most sensitive assay. After the added expense of shipping these samples to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) labs, each sample costs roughly $50 to process. Currently we have a backlog of approximately 80 samples and therefore a need of $4,000 to give us this vital information. To raise money to have these samples tested, we are initiating the "Adopt-A-Sample" program. Please consider making a donation to help us continue this important work.
