| Aquatic scientists divided on role of sea lice from salmon farms in decline of native salmon in B.C. | |
| By Alexandra Morton |
Source: EUREKA |
3/3/2004 |
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Salmon farms in British Columbia may pose a threat to wild salmon stocks, a paper published today in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences claims. The paper presents evidence that native fish sampled near the farms are more heavily infected with parasitic sea lice. Lead author Alexandra Morton, a registered professional biologist and private researcher, believes the parasites multiply on the farms and are then transmitted to juvenile native salmon, causing recent drastic declines in wild fish populations. "If we don't do anything, we're definitely going to lose the wild salmon," said Morton. |
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Morton monitored the levels of infection of sea lice (unrelated to human lice), naturally occurring parasites that infect salmon only, on juvenile pink and chum salmon in British Columbia's Broughton Archipelago, a chain of islands between the mainland coast and the northern end of Vancouver Island. She then compared infection rates on salmon from sites near to and far from the farms. |
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