Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISAV), belonging to the Orthomyxoviridae family, consists of eight negative single-stranded RNA segments and is the causative agent of infectious salmon anemia (ISA), a severe disease of Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.). ISA can cause significant mortalities of up to 90% in infected aquacultured Atlantic salmon. ISAV can be classified into two subtype groups: a highly virulent HPR-delete variant and avirulent non-delete variant (ISAV-HPR0). Whether or not avirulent HPR0 leads to virulent HPR-delete remains in question. Understanding the dynamics between these two variants could play a vital role in helping to control disease outbreaks caused by ISAV-delete and thus lead to a more economically sustainable Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry. One major hurdle to better understanding the role that ISAV-HPR0 plays in virulence and disease is due to the inability to propagate and amplify ISAV-HPR0 in cell lines. Because ISAV-HPR0 appears to mainly target Atlantic salmon epithelial gill cells, a method for culturing primary gill cells from Atlantic salmon was developed. In repeated trials, 100% confluency was obtained in 25cm2 cell culture flasks, but subculture of these cells was not achieved. Establishing Atlantic primary gill cell lines could lead to the amplification of ISAV-HPR0 for further investigation of the relationship between virulent HPR-delete and avirulent HPR0. With the ability to culture primary gill cells, continued research aims at preparing primary gill cells from Atlantic salmon that have tested positive for ISAV HPR0 to determine if amplification of the viral agent can be achieved in these cells.