Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - “Our findings show that salmon farms are, indeed, a source of infection for wild fish. Viruses leave a genetic fingerprint and the genetic fingerprint shows that the same viruses that are on the farms are in the wild fish. All the evidence suggests that the virus is being transmitted from the farm to wild fish and I haven’t seen any evidence that says that’s not happening,” said Dr Gideon Mordecai is a viral ecologist at the University of British Columbia and the lead author of a paper published in Science Advances last month.Cortes Currents was not able to connect with him until late last week, at which point I also had a list of responses from the BC Salmon Farmer’s Association.Mordecai pointed out that most of the resulting interview questions arose from industry responses to his research: “Which is fine and I am happy to speak to anyone who has questions and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability … (but) I didn’t put much weight to the industry response to my paper and that is because I do not think they come from a place of scientific integrity, free of bias. It is a bit like approaching an oil company to comment on the latest climate change research - you maybe wouldn’t trust the answer.” The anonymous industry correspondent pointed out that this study comes out of of the Strategic Salmon Health Initiative (SSHI) – “and highlights yet again the long-standing concerns of the BC salmon farming industry regarding the credibility of its research.”“Their publications have largely focused on viral discovery; they have failed to publish any scientific studies that investigate whether the viruses they discovered are actually threatening wild or farmed stocks.”Photo: Dr Gideon Mordecai, lead author of the study - Amy Romer photo