Marine Harvest Canada updates public on their sea lice situation
In an attempt to alleviate on-going concerns about sea lice from salmon farms and their potential impacts on out-migrating juvenile wild salmon, Marine Harvest is placing full page advertisements in the North Island Gazette and the Victoria Times-Colonist this week. The advertisements show the average number of sea lice per farmed salmon, as a result of monitoring that is required by provincial regulations. Marine Harvest has made this information available to the public on a site-by-site basis since 2004, although this is not a requirement. The provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands makes results available to the public on a regional basis, although the regions are small.
Provincial regulations require salmon farmers to keep sea lice levels below an average of 3 mobile lice per fish during the out-migration period. Of the 11 farms operated by Marine Harvest in the Broughton Archipelago area, four farms are empty of fish, and therefore do not contribute to the sea lice loading in the area. Six other farms show sea lice levels of no more than 0.2 lice per farmed fish on the average, and one farm that was treated for sea lice in March is awaiting results of new counts.
In a Press Release issued today, Clare Backman- Director of Environmental Compliance & Community Relations- stated that "We monitor for sea lice levels diligently and we manage our operations closely to ensure that our fish do not add to the many other threats that young wild salmon face". He continues to say that "We do not pretend to have all the answers, but we are committed to reviewing and supporting science and improving our practices so that we minimize risk to our salmon and wild stocks".
This is the second round of advertisements that the company has embarked on since the beginning of the juvenile salmon out-migration period this spring. "It is part of our commitment to being open with those interested in our business about what we are doing and what results we are attaining", said Backman.
