The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) says it continues to investigate the recent sardine mortality event on the West Coast, with pilchard herpesvirus (PHV) posited as the most likely explanation.
The DFFE notes that when all the evidence outlined below is taken into account, it increasingly points to PHV as the leading explanation; however, its causal role will only be confirmed once the pathological and wider surveillance results are available.
“PHV is a fish virus and poses no known risk to human health. There is no evidence that it can infect or cause disease in people. Its detection does not, by itself, mean that healthy sardines caught commercially or canned sardine products are unsafe to eat,” the DFFE assures the public.
While no new mass mortality incidents have been reported since August 16, suggesting that the acute phase of the event may have eased, monitoring continues.
About 75 sardines have been included in the PHV testing programme to date.
