Fish farm quarantined after suspected ISA outbreak

There is evidence of another outbreak of infectious salmon anemia at one of Cooke Aquaculture's fish farms in Nova Scotia.

Cooke spokesperson Nell Halse said the company is co-operating with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and provincial inspectors.

"We are also pressing CFIA to move much more quickly with their lab work as we are anxious to move quickly and aggressively to remove suspect fish to protect the rest of the farm," she said, without identifying which fish farm it was. 

"This is a relatively small farm and the two cages represent only one per cent of our production in the province, so it does not (affect) our overall plans for Nova Scotia."

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it began an investigation June 12, and has quarantined the facility. Preliminary tests indicate the presence of ISA, but further confirmation is necessary, according to the agency.

An outbreak of ISA at a Cooke facility in Shelburne in February resulted in the company destroying 700,000 fish. The federal government will compensate the company for those fish, up to a maximum of $30 per fish, but Halse said no money has been paid to Cooke yet.