[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Jake

So, to me, it is not clear at all why the federal government "muzzled" her. Her research was very important and it seems like it would benefit everyone.

From the second link in OP.

The office said at the time that it was concerned Miller's comments could influence an ongoing judicial inquiry into declines of Fraser River sockeye salmon.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...398/story.html

Looks like there was a denial spin operating from salmon farmers and the feds regarding that the virus didn't exist in BC.

An interesting read from the inquiry where she shares fears about her 25 years of samples being confiscated by DFO and intimidation by DFO and CFIA (bolded for emphasis).

First off, Dr. Miller helped clarify the baffling claims coming from both the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and BC Salmon Farmers’ Association that “ISA is not in BC.” Given the number of positive test results from the world’s top labs, the certainty with which the Harper Government and its fish farming pals have claimed the disease is not here has puzzled many in the media and conservation community. Well, Miller cleared up the confusion in her testimony, explaining the sneaky linguistic trick these folks have been leaning on in making these boasts.....

....The fact is Miller is running what could be termed as a super-lab out of the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo. Because of the wealth of fish samples she has to draw on, dating back 25 years, and the sophistication of her equipment and methods, she’s able to process enormous volumes of tests and data compared to the other labs (several hundred tests a day compared to as little a 6 tests a week for some of the others).

Another key point Miller made on the stand was the fear she harboured of having all her years of samples confiscated by the CFIA, as the agency did to SFU professor Rick Routledge after his sockeye samples form Rivers Inlet came back positive for ISAv earlier this year – the catalyst, in fact, for the re-opening of the Cohen Commission. Miller indicated she felt intimidated by DFO managers and the CFIA from the strongly implied threat that they could storm into her lab and take away this enormously valuable genetic bank she oversees. “I was very concerned that that would be one threat that if the samples I’m working on were classified as ISA that I would lose the samples that are important for my genomics program,” she told the Inquiry.

It is thanks to this wealth of material that Miller was able to establish that ISAv has likely been here in BC at least since 1986 – as she was able to test livers from sockeye that date back that far and find evidence of the virus, which came as another shock amid the day’s proceedings.

http://thecanadian.org/k2/item/1222-...n-salmon-virus