Monday August 3, 2026
Times Colonist —
For the first time, B.C. researchers have discovered a deadly bacterial disease in wild chinook salmon in the Pacific Ocean off Vancouver Island.
It’s a finding that could shed light on what is contributing to the rapid decline of B.C.’s southern resident orcas.
The new study, by scientists at UBC and the Pacific Salmon Foundation and published in Scientific Reports, says tenacibaculosis — a bacterial disease that causes lesions and death in fish — was found in 16 per cent of the 99 chinook sampled.
Tenacibaculosis has been well documented in farmed Atlantic salmon, but not found in wild-caught Pacific salmon until now, said Emiliano Di Cicco, a fish health researcher with the Pacific Salmon Foundation and lead author of the study.
He said the disease likely comes from a common type of marine bacterium called Tenacibaculum dicentrarchi, which is found in high concentrations at fish farms around the world.