Sea lice from fish farms have been found to be more virulent than those from the wild.

New weapons in war on lice

Extensive testing shows there is potential for new chemical classes that can be applied to anti-lice medicines in the future, the Sea Lice Research Centre has revealed.

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As a result the Norway-based SLRC will now place increased focus on applied aspects like new medicine and vaccine development, the organisation said.

In the introduction to its newly published annual report 2016 SLRC director Frank Nilsen says: "A wide range of chemical compounds have been tested for efficacy against salmon louse in Work Project 1. The results have been published and show that there is potential for new chemical Classes that may be applied to anti-lice medicines in the future. "

But he warns: "If, and when this happens, it depends to a large extent on the pharmaceutical industry and their interest in developing new medicines against the salmon louse.
"Some of these require large-scale handling of the salmon to remove the lice (eg, flushing, warm water, fresh water.) For some of these methods, fish welfare is one of the most sustainable methods to combat salmon louse would be vaccination Although there is no guarantee for successful vaccine development, it is difficult to argue against significant efforts for such a vaccine.
Resistance monitoring
SLRC's objectives are:
• New medicines and resistance monitoring and control methods
• Anti-attachment diets  
• Immune controls (specific & nonspecific)
• RNAi gene techniques for research tool development and future controls
• In-depth knowledge of the molecular biology of growth, reproduction and endocrine systems in sea lice
• Annotated genome sequence linked to an integrated database containing experimental data (LiceBase)
• Updated microarray and other molecular tools
• Larval detection and assessment techniques
 • Sea lice facility (naïve lice population, challenge facility, etc.) (LiceLab)
• Development of truly integrated pest management techniques for industry
The SLRC is located at the University of Bergen (UiB), but has both academic and industrial partners elsewhere. They are: Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Institute of Marine Research, EWOS Innovation AS, Lero Seafood Group ASA, PatoGen Analyze AS, Elanco Animal Health and Marine Harvest ASA.
Biggest threat
SLRC's Integrated Pest Management working group is led by Marine Harvest fish health and welfare expert Dr Gordon Ritchie. In the report he says: "Sea lice represent the biggest threat to the industry through limitations for growth, reputation issues to medicine use, the risk of insufficient intervention measures and downscaled production in problematic areas.
"The goal of the industry is to manage the lice in a truly integrated manner, through the application of strategic, preventative and non-medicinal measures.
"In June 2016 the Centre established an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) working group (WG) consisting of all industrial partners and lead scientists Professor Frank Nilsen and Professor Tor Einar Horsberg from the Centre.
"The precursor to this output, a scientific review is currently underway. The WG has convened on four occasions to map the specific content of this output, the future stakeholder involvement and the communication plan, with the aim of completing the first draft by June 2017. "
Read the full report at http://www.slrc.no/files/2012/06/SLRC-Annual-Report-2016.pdf
Frank Nilsen says vaccination would be one of the most sustainable methods of sea lice prevention.