Fish Health Auditing and Surveillance Program (FHASP)

• Map of Fish Health Zones .jpg (5.5MB)
• Map of Fish Health Zones (165 kb)
• Program Results - 2001

In November 2000, the Province of British Columbia initiated a new FHASP. This program is one component of a larger provincial fish health policy initiative aimed at improving our knowledge of fish diseases in aquaculture facilities by determining which diseases occur routinely and identifying possible changing trends in disease occurrence. This program does not attempt to meet any federal statutory requirements for fish health import/export or fish movements; however, as this program is epidemiologically-based, the information provides an excellent review of the health status of cultured fish stocks in the province.

The provincial program is an active surveillance program that requires staff to inspect farm sites and collect specimens for health evaluation. For the specific purposes of this program, the province is divided into a series of fish health zones, based on general watershed guidelines, which are used as sampling areas. The program involves a multistage sampling system with the unit of concern being the zone. All sites within a zone are assigned a random number.

Selection of the farms within a zone for sampling is weighted based on the number of farms in that zone as a percentage of the total number of farms in the province - that is, if an area has 30% of the farms then only 30% of the farms in the area would be randomly selected. This ensures equal probability of each farm being selected for sampling. Sampling is conducted during routine fish mortality dives and all fresh mortalities are examined. Sampling is aimed at achieving a 95% confidence interval for detection of 2% disease incidence such that the total number is up to a maximum of 300 fish per zone.

Samples are collected for bacteriology, molecular diagnostic, and histopathology analysis. Several techniques are used, including the standard Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique, to screen for the following pathogens:

• Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV)
• Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus (IPNV)
• Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA)
• Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS North American strain)
• Piscirickettsia salmonis

This work is completed at our Animal Health Center (AHC) in Abbotsford. The AHC laboratory is accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.

Updated:  October 30, 2003