Report details disease links

ISA is said to have cost Scotland £100m

A disease which ravaged several Scottish salmon farms spread from a single outbreak in Loch Nevis, according to a new report.

The outbreak of infectious salmon anaemia cost £100m and led to the loss of 200 jobs.

The study by the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen could not pinpoint the origin of the disease.

However, the report said it may have been accidentally carried to the farm by a boat from Norway, or that conditions in the loch may have produced a particularly virulent form of the disease.

Two hundred jobs have been lost

The report is now being considered by experts who will decide what extra steps should be taken to safeguard the health of farmed fish.

The disease, which does not affect humans, was first seen in Scotland in May 1998.

It spread to 10 other confirmed sites and 25 suspected sites.

The last suspected case was in November 1999.

All the confirmed sites, and nearly all of the suspected sites, are now back in production.

The report by the Fisheries Research Service at the Marine Laboratory said the origin of the outbreak could not be "conclusively" identified.

However, it said links between the affected farms had been established by means that included fish movements, boats and other site-to-site contacts.

"The connection of the infected farms with the Nevis source has been confirmed by genetic characterisation of the virus," it said.