Sea lice hits the news again in B.C.
The report, produced by the environmental group Watershed Watch and paid for by the Pacific Salmon Forum, reports that lice infections on juvenile salmonids are most common in areas with farms.
As reported earlier, the Pacific Salmon Forum was established by Premier Campbell in December 2004 in order to provide recommendations regarding the management of wild salmon, the increased public confidence in fisheries management generally and aquaculture in particular, as well as the enhancement of the social and environmental sustainability of aquaculture in B.C.
This sea lice report was provided to the Forum in August last year, but rejected by the Forum as not meeting the peer-review standards that it had established for the research projects that it funds. All researchers doing work for the Forum are also supposed to adhere to a communication protocol. Now the report has been leaked to the media anyway, and is making headlines in Vancouver and Victoria.
In the meantime, a team of researchers from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been conducting studies on sea lice in B.C., and veteran salmon researcher and operations officer for the Department Brian Riddell said that "There isn't any question that farms need to be managed for the risk of sea lice. Mortality among juvenile fish is invariably high due to a variety of causes, including predation, and it's not clear if sea-lice infections are elevating the risk among B.C. salmon populations".
