This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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All clear for Western Isles salmon farm
19/05/2005
The Executive today announced the lifting of Infectious
Salmon Anaemia (ISA) movement controls from Marine
Harvest's Loch Sheilavaig salmon farm in South Uist.
The controls were put in place in November last year
when a suspected case of ISA was found. The controls have
now been lifted as no continuing evidence of the presence
of ISA virus has been detected.
Lewis Macdonald, Deputy Minister for Environment and
Rural Development, said:
"Prompt action by companies in co-operation with the
Fisheries Research Service's Health Inspectors is critical
to preventing any possibility of disease spreading. It is
because Marine Harvest responded in this way that we are
today able to lift these restrictions.
"This news will be welcomed by the aquaculture industry
and those communities in the Western Isles which it
supports."
ISA is notifiable under European and domestic fish
health legislation, which requires measures to eradicate
rather than control the disease. An outbreak was confirmed
in Scotland in 1998 and eradication measures including
clearance of infected sites and controls on movements of
fish in affected areas have succeeded in preventing further
outbreaks.
The EC Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal
Welfare has concluded that there is no evidence of risk to
human health from ISA.
Signs of ISA include high mortality rates, darkening of
the liver, sever anaemia and internal haemorrhage.