What’s destabilizing B.C.’s wild salmon stocks?

Marine Harvest Canada Updates Broughton Archipelago Sea Lice Management Results
May 6th, 2008 - Campbell River, BC.

Marine Harvest Canada is placing a full-page advertisement in tomorrow's Victoria Times Colonist to update readers on the results of its sea lice management plan in the Broughton Archipelago.

“The out-migration of juvenile salmon began in March and continues until June,” says Clare Backman, Director of Environmental Compliance & Community Relations for Marine Harvest Canada. “Marine Harvest has taken significant action to reduce and eliminate the potential for sea lice transfer from its salmon farms to wild juvenile salmon.”

Marine Harvest staff monitor farmed salmon monthly for presence of sea lice. In April, Marine Harvest fish farms in the Broughton area averaged 0.1 lice per fish. The levels of sea lice are lower than the previous sample taken in March and are lower than last year’s levels during the same period. Since 2004, Marine Harvest has made all sea lice monitoring results available on its website at www.marineharvest.ca.

“This result is also well under the threshold level of 3.0 lice per fish at which our fish would need to be treated according to the Sea Lice Action Plan developed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the provincial government, and the industry,” says Backman.

Sea lice are a naturally occurring parasite found on various fish in the Pacific Ocean and are initially passed from wild sources to farmed salmon (Kabata 1973, Beamish et al 2005).

Farmed salmon is BC’s largest agricultural export. In 2008, Marine Harvest Canada will produce about 42,000 tonnes of high quality, fresh Atlantic salmon. The Company employs about 500 people at operations on Vancouver Island and the Central Coast.
 
well known salmon stocks have been in steady decline since we've been keeping records, how is it that salmon farms in broughton have been influencing stocks prior to 1990?

Pink_Salmon_Returns.jpg
 
Bones
There is little to be gained by repeating old information and asking the same questions regarding Fish Farms.
No one argues there is lots of conflicting science floating around for the last 15 years and posting it does little to move the discussion forward.
Your posts on this and other threads often go on ad nauseam and seem to have little purpose, other than possibly getting yet another Fish Farm thread closed by ADMIN.
Perhaps it's best if we simply wait until new information comes forward regarding Fish Farms and stop regurgitate the old stuff.
 
Did I miss the answer to the question put forward by GLG.
I do believe it was a new and valid question.

Birdsnest said:
In our area we are suffering the same results as everywhere else that are with or without salmon farms. Individual juvenile groups that spend longer periods of time in fresh water are showing low returns. And some nets are causing problems as well.
Chums are doing ok around here but we don't have pinks. They got fished to extinction at the turn of the century.

GLG Well-Known Member asked
What is the name of the best river for returns that you have in that area?
 
Looking at returns for any system is pointless for both sides.

There is examples of low returns by fish farms and away from fish farms. There is examples of good returns near fishfarns and away.

Fogged in, you know this as this has been shown by both sides a million times.

So not sure how you wish to move the debate forward bringing this up.

Going into this is just going to create the same circle argument your accusing of Bones.
 
Impacts of salmon lice emanating from salmon farms on wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout
Thorstad, Eva B.; Finstad, Bengt
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2475746

NINA Rapport/NINA Report [999]

Abstract
Thorstad, E.B. & Finstad, B. 2018. Impacts of salmon lice emanating from salmon farms on wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout. NINA Report 1449: 1-22.

Results from scientific studies on the impacts of salmon lice on Atlantic salmon and sea trout are summarized here. Considerable evidence exists that that there is a link between farm-intensive areas and the spread of salmon lice to wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout. Several studies have shown that the effects of salmon lice from fish farms on wild salmon and sea trout populations can be severe; ultimately reducing the number of adult fish due to salmon lice induced mortality, resulting in reduced stocks and reduced opportunities for fisheries. Depending on the population size, elevated salmon lice levels can also result in too few spawners to reach conservation limits.

Salmon lice are external parasites on salmon and trout at sea. They feed on fish’s mucus, skin and muscle. Mortality due to salmon lice primarily occurs in young fish after they enter the sea from fresh water (11 mobile lice per fish is lethal level for a 15 g wild salmon), but severely infested sea trout can also die from salmon lice later in life. Mortality occurs because salmon lice can cause severely damaged fins and skin lesions, and thereby physiological stress, problems with salt regulation, increased susceptibility to other infections and reduced disease resistance in individual fish. Salmon lice can also cause reduced swimming performance, feeding and growth and altered behaviour of the fish.

Salmon farming increases the spread and abundance of salmon lice in marine habitats, and thereby the risk of infection and mortality among wild salmon and sea trout in areas with fish farms. These facts are both verified by field monitoring of salmon lice on wild fish and by the fact that salmon lice on wild fish in farm-intensive areas have lice with the same resistance to chem-icals as used in farms. Wild fish in farm-free areas generally show low lice levels. In farm-inten-sive areas, lice levels on wild fish are typically higher, but variable. With the expansion of fish farming, marked salmon lice outbreaks on salmonids have been reported from Canada, Ireland, Norway and Scotland.

Studies indicate an annual loss of 50 000 adult wild Atlantic salmon to Norwegian rivers because of salmon lice, which corresponds to an overall loss of 10% of the wild salmon because of salmon lice on a national level (i.e., including both farm-free and farm-intensive areas, based on data from the years 2010-2014). Salmon lice from fish farms are identified as one of the two largest threats to wild salmon in Norway.

Population-level effects of salmon lice in Ireland and Norway have been quantified in large-scale studies in nature by comparing the survival of individually tagged fish chemically protected against salmon lice with untreated control fish. These studies show that lice-induced mortality in farm-intensive areas can lead to an average of 12-29% fewer adult salmon. To exemplify this loss, a 20% reduction due to salmon lice in a river where 4000 Atlantic salmon spawn each year equals a loss of 800 spawners, which means that 3200 salmon spawners will return to the river in a given year instead of 4000. Mortality of sea trout is likely to be higher than in Atlantic salmon, because unlike the ocean-migrating Atlantic salmon, they usually remain in coastal waters, where fish farms are situated.

There are a large number of scientific studies on the impacts of salmon lice on Atlantic salmon and sea trout, ranging from laboratory and field investigations of the effects of salmon lice on individual fish, to analyses of impacts on wild populations. There is year-to-year and local varia-tion in the population effects of salmon lice, and abilities to estimate effects in different areas depend on sufficient resolution of the monitoring of wild fish and salmon lice levels.

Publisher Norsk institutt for naturforskning (NINA)
Series NINA Report;1449
Copyright
© Norwegian Institute for Nature Research The publication may be freely cited where the source is acknowledged
 
Last edited:
Bones
There is little to be gained by repeating old information and asking the same questions regarding Fish Farms.
No one argues there is lots of conflicting science floating around for the last 15 years and posting it does little to move the discussion forward.
Your posts on this and other threads often go on ad nauseam and seem to have little purpose, other than possibly getting yet another Fish Farm thread closed by ADMIN.
Perhaps it's best if we simply wait until new information comes forward regarding Fish Farms and stop regurgitate the old stuff.
if your going to regurgitate that fish farms are affecting wild salmon stocks and tell them to move to land (with no hard evidence). then i'll keep regurgitating information that says other wise. if another member can constantly post up the same information thread after thread day in day out. And you have thanked him for all his posts then why is it when i do it you think its useless???
 
if your going to regurgitate that fish farms are affecting wild salmon stocks and tell them to move to land (with no hard evidence). then i'll keep regurgitating information that says other wise. if another member can constantly post up the same information thread after thread day in day out. And you have thanked him for all his posts then why is it when i do it you think its useless???
From 2018 Several studies have shown that the effects of salmon lice from fish farms on wild salmon and sea trout populations can be severe; ultimately reducing the number of adult fish due to salmon lice induced mortality
 
When i found out that Norweigan ISA virus is now affecting freshwater lakes and the cutthroat and rainbow trout in them... thats enough evidence to say remove all farms from Oceans. Its not ethical to damage not only Ocean habitat, but now its travelling via wild salmon into fresh water sources. Should be illegal to have these gross factories on the West Coast of BC. Anyone who thinks otherwise, turn in your passport.
 
if your going to regurgitate that fish farms are affecting wild salmon stocks and tell them to move to land (with no hard evidence). then i'll keep regurgitating information that says other wise. if another member can constantly post up the same information thread after thread day in day out. And you have thanked him for all his posts then why is it when i do it you think its useless???

It seems you are out of step with sea lice and what Marine Harvest is saying in this matter. Maybe you should look at your own beliefs and reevaluate your position.

Perhaps you should read the 2016 annual report from Marine Harvest as they must be straight with their shareholders or risk lawsuits.
http://hugin.info/209/R/2094101/791700.pdf

Page 12

Sea lice remain our number one challenge, and as such will continue to be our top R&D priority for the foreseeable future. Uncontrolled, sea lice impact fish welfare, survival and growth. However, it has become apparent that sea lice numbers can be brought under control through increased use of non-medicinal treatment methods. Although we still have a way to go, we increased our use of non-medicinal tools in 2016 and expect to reap the benefits of our efforts going forward.

Alf-Helge Aarskog

CEO Marine Harvest

Page 22

Farming the ocean requires constant adaptation to changing circumstances. We aim to be a leader in the field, and to accomplish this we must take action when current industry practices are not good enough. Sea lice are the industry’s greatest challenge at present. In 2015/2016 we implemented our new sea lice strategy and introduced new non-medicinal lice treatment methods including hydrolicers and thermolicers


Page 33

Footprint

Our vision is to Lead the Blue Revolution. This means that we aim to be at the forefront in growing food from the ocean in a socially and environmentally responsible way, and ensuring our operations do not leave a lasting footprint. We are convinced that to achieve long-term commercial and financial success, we must separate our business growth from our environmental impact. The Footprint focus area aims to support this separation by working on the following programs:

– Sea lice control

– Medicine use

– ASC implementation

– Escape management and control


Sea lice control

Sea lice control remains the most challenging area within salmon farming globally. Our R&D efforts relating to this issue are broad and will continue to be so going forward. Our R&D focus areas include prevention as well as further development and optimization of non-medicinal treatments, cleaner- fish farming and the optimization of cleaner-fish use, as well as biotechnological solutions. Our zero-adult-female strategy, rolled out in the Group in 2015, remains in focus. In 2016, we decided to further increase our resources within this field and will therefore establish an internal “lice action team” which will run and coordinate all lice projects and activities in which we are involved. The team will also be strengthened through the addition of engineering competence.

Page 66

SEA LICE MANAGEMENT

THE CHALLENGE

Effective sea lice management is important for fish welfare and to ensure lice on our farms do not negatively impact wild salmonid stocks. Sea lice also represent a significant cost to the industry.

OUR EFFORTS

We continuously strive to improve our approach to sea lice management and minimize the number of adult female lice at our sites, especially during the period when wild salmon smolt migrate out to sea. Our goal is to manage sea lice in an integrated manner and reduce the use of medicines, through the application of strategic, preventative and non-medicinal measures. We continue to develop and implement better management practices as well as share best practice in lice management throughout our operations. Our R&D activities target innovative physical and biological methods to control lice. We continue to respect precautionary statutory limits, set by relevant authorities, on the maximum number of lice per fish.


PRIORITIES GOING FORWARD

Maintaining low levels of sea lice at our sites will remain our first priority. We will increase our capacity with regard to non-medicinal systems, optimize existing solutions, develop new and cost-effective methods and increase our expertise with regard to cleaner fish use and welfare. In the longer term, our ambition is to ensure that sea lice control is based principally on integrated and non-medicinal approaches, allowing us to reduce the amount of medication needed.
 
This is further proof that there should be no such thing as a "senior bureaucrat" anywhere. The job specs should require a tight limit to their tenure. Allowing them to hang around for 15 - 20 yrs holding court with off shore account promise, corporate lobbyists is just asking for corruption.

As President Dwight D Eisenhower warned as far back as the cold war era: .... "an immense corporate establishment and a large fish farm industry has emerged as a hidden force in politics and that we all must not fail to comprehend its grave implications".
 
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