WASHINGTON Sen. Maria Cantwell is absolutely right. The Canadian salmon-virus debacle requires direct action and candor. Washington, D.C., and Ottawa need to talk.

The two federal governments need to make sure that scientists share information about threats and hazards to the biological health of a lucrative industry when risks do not respect international boundaries.

Talking about better communications is easier than establishing a solid, trusting relationship, but trade-based reticence must not trump candor about potential risks.

Federal, state and tribal scientists on this side of the border were already in rapid-response mode to collect and test salmon after a Canadian discovery in October of a salmon virus in two juvenile wild sockeye taken from Rivers Inlet in northern British Columbia. Independent tests were inconclusive.

Then alarms really began to ring. Seattle Times reporter Craig Welch subsequently broke another story about a decade-old inquiry into the suspected presence of infectious salmon anemia, ISA, in more than 100 wild fish from Alaska to Vancouver Island. The virus was never confirmed, but the research, findings and suspicions were never released for scrutiny and review by others.

These earlier findings, by a team of scientists who apparently did not reach unanimous agreement about what they might have found, only compounded the October scare.

ISA fish viruses have devastated wild stocks and farm-raised salmon around the world. Science-based concerns need to be shared. Lots of skilled hands and minds replicating tests and reviewing data provide solid information. Make it work.

Cantwell won support for federal legislation to start at the top and proceed into the labs. In the meantime, do not skimp on financial support for regional surveillance, testing and cooperation.