Salmon farms not ‘solely’ to blame for growing B.C. sea lice infestations, says DFO study | 24CA News
A authorities examine claims fish farms aren’t solely guilty for the rising prevalence of sea lice amongst wild salmon alongside the B.C. coast.
The Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) report, primarily based on knowledge supplied by fish farm operators, claims that there isn’t any “statistically significant association” between sea lice infestations amongst wild juvenile Chum and Pink salmon and the fish farms they migrate previous alongside the B.C. coast.
However, the report nonetheless notes that there was an upward development of sea lice infestation within the studied areas, which embody Clayoquot Sound and the Discovery Islands, since 2013.
It concludes that the shortage of statistical significance means infestations can’t “solely be explained” by the presence of farms.
Stakeholders of B.C.’s fish farm trade have been fast to use the examine to declare that farms pose no dangers to wild salmon populations, whereas critics say the report is flawed, pointing to the rising variety of infestations in B.C. waters and research that recommend sea lice numbers usually go underreported by the trade.
Parasitic sea lice happen naturally within the Pacific Ocean, however they have an inclination to thrive in fish farms due to the excessive density of fish.
Sea lice do not usually hurt grownup fish, however when the parasites connect to the pores and skin of younger fish, they will weaken and even kill them.
Critics unconvinced
Salmon farms are required to carry out month-to-month counts of the ocean lice on their fish and make these numbers publicly obtainable. The counts are self-reported, however fisheries officers carry out occasional, pre-arranged audits to verify the numbers are correct.
A 2020 examine discovered necessary sea lice counts carried out by the operators of the fish farms drop by between 15 and 50 per cent after they’re not being carried out throughout an audit.
“In the face of an enormous amount of evidence, they continue to deny something as simple and as obvious as the impact of sea lice,” stated Alexandra Morton, a biologist, activist with Raincoast Research Society.
Biologist and activist Alexandra Morton discusses the information and talks about why she thinks the examine is unreliable.
Morton says the conclusions reached within the newest DFO examine displays unreliable sampling knowledge supplied by farmers and consulting companies employed by them.
“If you keep your numbers straight … you can see, they don’t have lice, and then they pass the farms, and do have lice,” she stated.
The DFO examine does reference previous stories which have discovered that infestations on each farmed and wild salmon had been correlated inside 30 kilometres of farms.
Farmers affiliation defends assortment
The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, nevertheless, contends that examine confirms that the presence of farmed salmon doesn’t seem to have a measurable impression of sea lice counts on wild salmon populations.
The group has disputed previous claims that trade sea lice numbers go underreported, criticizing how knowledge within the 2020 examine was modeled.
“We don’t underreport any numbers,” stated Brian Kingzett, the affiliation’s government director. “Every salmon producer retains highly qualified veterinarians that oversee the lice counting.”
Ottawa is predicted to decide about the way forward for fish farm licensing within the Discovery Islands space, which is among the many areas studied within the current DFO report.
Operations within the space had been scaled again after the earlier fisheries minister, Bernadette Jordan, introduced in late 2020 that 19 salmon farms can be phased amid rising challenges to native shares together with illness.
However, a Federal Court choose put aside that call in 2022, forcing Ottawa to remodel its transition plan for the world. Kingzett says he is hopeful the current report will play a task in restoring operations.
“Hopefully this study will provide more confidence about those decisions, but that’s ultimately up to [fisheries] minister Joyce Murray” he stated.
