Sea lice alerted inspectors to ISA

Last Thursday, the Scottish government’s Fisheries Research Service said they had used new powers to investigate sea lice problems when inspecting the Scottish Sea Farms where Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) was found, the local news source wrote. Reports of a major sea lice infestation off the south west coast of Shetland were confirmed when Shetland’s largest salmon producer, Hjaltland Seafarms, owned by Norwegian company Grieg Seafoods, reported “extraordinary high mortality … as consequence of biological issues (sea lice)”. Shetland Islands Council meanwhile confirmed that its landfill site had received 1,300 tonnes of dead salmon from across the isles for disposal, between October and December, a figure “a lot higher” than in previous months. Inspectors turned up at the infected site east of Hildasay to investigate two reports of serious problems with sea lice and were surprised when tests revealed the presence of the highly infectious ISA virus, Shetland Marine News wrote. ISA last struck in Scotland ten years ago, costing the industry £100 million and 200 jobs. The source was never discovered, though it was widely blamed on a well boat carrying the disease from site to site.