§ Mr. Masonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what reports he has received regarding the presence of whirling disease in fish farms specifying the areas affected;
(2)whether he has placed a ban on the movement of live trout and eggs due to suspected whirling disease; if so, which fish farms are being controlled; and what are the numbers of trout fishing waters that are being denied replenishment of seasonal stocks;
(3)how seriously he is treating the discovery of whirling disease in fish farms; what prospects there are of it being declared safe for the trout season; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerWhirling disease is one of the more serious diseases of salmonids and is notifiable under the Diseases of Fish Act 1937. The disease can cause skeletal deformities, damage to the nervous system and considerable mortalities. Although young farmed rainbow trout of less than 7 to 10 cm in length are most suspectible to infection, older fish of the salmon family can be carriers of the disease without showing symptoms. As with many serious fish diseases, whirling disease develops largely under farmed conditions but the extent to which it is present in the wild population is not known. The disease does not affect humans and causes no danger to those eating or handling infected fish.
Until the present outbreak was first detected in 1981, there had been no previous record of the disease in England and Wales, although an outbreak occurred in Scotland in 1968. There have now been 25 confirmed cases in different parts of England and Wales, of which many are concentrated in Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire, the rest being in Powys, Lancashire and in a number of counties to the south. Details of the making of each order are published in the London Gazette. All the confirmed cases have been made subject to infected areas orders under section 2 of the Act. Such orders prohibit the unauthorised movement of live fish, eggs of fish and foodstuff for fish from the infected sites.
My officials have given advice to the owners of infected farms on the eradication of the disease and on the necessary disinfection. In several cases, fish farmers have already embarked upon appropriate slaughter and
20W
Item and CCT number Common levy* Pence/lb MCA† Pence/lb Total import levy Pence/lb Common wheat (10.01A) 2.14 0.41 2.55 Barley (10.03) 1.66 0.37 2.03 Maize (10.05B) 2.48 0.37 2.85 White sugar (17.01A) 6.70 1.13 7.83 Butter 82-84 per cent. fat content (04.03A)‡ 33.56 7.14 40.7 Cheddar cheese (04.04 Elblbb) 45.17 5.53 50.7 Skimmed milk powder (04.02 AIIb1) 16.05 2.97 19.02 Boneless frozen beef (02.01 AIIb4bb33) 62.88 6.79 69.67 Lard (15.01 AII) 3.42 Nil 3.42 Pigmeat carcases (02.01 AIIIa1) 9.83 3.08 12.91 Salted bacon sides (02.06 BIa2aa) 12.58 3.95 16.53 Eggs (04.05 Alb)** 12.26 0.95 13.21 disinfection programmes. Once these measures have been satisfactorily completed at particular sites, the infected areas orders related to those sites will be lifted. However, I can offer no hope of all the orders currently in force being lifted by the opening of the brown trout season. An assessment of the numbers of trout fishing waters that are being denied seasonal replacement stocks as a result of the present outbreaks would require commercial information which is not available to me.
I am sure that anglers will understand that my first priority must be to eliminate the disease and to prevent it reaching the wild population and other fish farms.