SpringFever2359
Well-Known Member
All our Springs in alberni last weekend were absolutely loaded with sea lice, as were the sockeye and pinks from Discovery Passage the week before..soo there goes that theory
Aquaculture improving?..The Fish Farm Thread
- Thread starter islandboy
- Start date
All our Springs in alberni last weekend were absolutely loaded with sea lice, as were the sockeye and pinks from Discovery Passage the week before..soo there goes that theory
I find it a fascinating topic - how parasites & diseases and their life cycles intersect with the life history stages of fish species. Figuring out these causal explanations for these patterns can reveal many unknowns.
WRT that interchange of wild/cultured stock interactions - DFO has been in a very much compromised position for decades in resisting examining those interactions as detailed on many pages on many posts in this forum. Doubt is the leverage to maintain the status quo on ONP operations & ones job in the aquaculture department.
That's why that focus on parasites & diseases and their life cycles & interactions with wild/cultured stock is in it's infancy - and w/o the PSF & other independent scientists and their efforts to date - we would know next to nothing. Which works for DFO Aquaculture & the DFO Comms Branch & the industry they protect.
WRT sea lice & salmon our knowledge has blossomed in the past 20 years or so since DFO (and the Province at the time that was in charge of ONPSF) were forced to admit there was a problem. On the West Coast of Canada one of the earliest peer-reviewed research was this paper:
Used in the construction of this graphic:
Most of the focus has been the inshore/nearshore and the transfer between adult farmed fish, outmigrating wild salmon juveniles and inmigrating, returning adult wild salmon. We know there is normally a period of fallowing between the life history stages of wild salmon and that ONP aquaculture can disrupt that fallowing:
So what did it look like WRT lice dynamics BEFORE the FFs arrived? Don't know. A mentioned previously, Yves Bastien did his damage in the early 2000s taking FFs out of environmental assessment BEFORE sea lice research happened. Convenient, eh? No legal accountability for impacts that way.
But we can compare non farm with FF areas as has been done here:
But that research on sea lice dynamics is in the nearshore. What about offshore areas?
Not much - if any research - has been done in Canada - esp. the West Coast on this issue. And we has 20+ years to do this. Again, Convenient, eh? Doubt is again quite the commodity for maintaining the status quo.
HG and other posters on here could be correct about some of the suggested causal mechanisms behind the observations they describe.
In Europe - they have done some offshore research on sea lice:
There are also significant differences between the lice species Caligus (smaller, pinker, on many nearshore fish spies, esp. herring) and Lepeophtheirus (larger, grey/black on mostly salmon, more of an offshore species) and where/when they infect different life history stages of salmon.
One of the suggestions I have heard is that seamounts and other areas of offshore feeding maybe where adult salmon get infected with Lepeophtheirus.
WRT that interchange of wild/cultured stock interactions - DFO has been in a very much compromised position for decades in resisting examining those interactions as detailed on many pages on many posts in this forum. Doubt is the leverage to maintain the status quo on ONP operations & ones job in the aquaculture department.
That's why that focus on parasites & diseases and their life cycles & interactions with wild/cultured stock is in it's infancy - and w/o the PSF & other independent scientists and their efforts to date - we would know next to nothing. Which works for DFO Aquaculture & the DFO Comms Branch & the industry they protect.
WRT sea lice & salmon our knowledge has blossomed in the past 20 years or so since DFO (and the Province at the time that was in charge of ONPSF) were forced to admit there was a problem. On the West Coast of Canada one of the earliest peer-reviewed research was this paper:
Used in the construction of this graphic:
Most of the focus has been the inshore/nearshore and the transfer between adult farmed fish, outmigrating wild salmon juveniles and inmigrating, returning adult wild salmon. We know there is normally a period of fallowing between the life history stages of wild salmon and that ONP aquaculture can disrupt that fallowing:
So what did it look like WRT lice dynamics BEFORE the FFs arrived? Don't know. A mentioned previously, Yves Bastien did his damage in the early 2000s taking FFs out of environmental assessment BEFORE sea lice research happened. Convenient, eh? No legal accountability for impacts that way.
But we can compare non farm with FF areas as has been done here:
But that research on sea lice dynamics is in the nearshore. What about offshore areas?
Not much - if any research - has been done in Canada - esp. the West Coast on this issue. And we has 20+ years to do this. Again, Convenient, eh? Doubt is again quite the commodity for maintaining the status quo.
HG and other posters on here could be correct about some of the suggested causal mechanisms behind the observations they describe.
In Europe - they have done some offshore research on sea lice:
There are also significant differences between the lice species Caligus (smaller, pinker, on many nearshore fish spies, esp. herring) and Lepeophtheirus (larger, grey/black on mostly salmon, more of an offshore species) and where/when they infect different life history stages of salmon.
One of the suggestions I have heard is that seamounts and other areas of offshore feeding maybe where adult salmon get infected with Lepeophtheirus.
SpringFever2359
Well-Known Member
I can member fishing in the mid 70's with my dad(I'd be 13-14), launching at Comox airforce beach ramp coming in with our catch and an old time commercial guy saying "nice healthy fish look at all the lice on them"
Im sure some old timers on here can tell you what it was like back in regards to lice before onpf, I just did..
Im sure some old timers on here can tell you what it was like back in regards to lice before onpf, I just did..
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Opinion: Let’s have an honest conversation about salmon farming in Alaska
Global aquaculture now dwarfs Alaska’s wild seafood harvest, and ignoring that reality won’t make it go away.
Island-based hereditary chief calls for cancellation of open-net fish farm ban | CBC News https://share.google/6r6GohGUCigMkVjlM
I started trolling on the west coast in 1979, before ONFF were established.
With respect to sea lice on adult salmon, pinks and sockeye have always been loaded with lice, springs and coho usually had less lice. I did not notice any significant change in sea lice numbers on adult fish when the ONFF industry got going full steam.
When you are dressing fish at the table, #1, gills, #2 guts, #3 kidney, #4 scrape the veins, #5 knock off the lice, soak in washdown tub for a bit, #6 hand wash any blood, #7 ice or put on plates depending if ice boat or freezer boat. My observations are based on cleaning thousands of salmon over the years.
It didn't seem like adult salmon were adversely affected by sea lice but I can see how they could effect fry/smolts.
With respect to sea lice on adult salmon, pinks and sockeye have always been loaded with lice, springs and coho usually had less lice. I did not notice any significant change in sea lice numbers on adult fish when the ONFF industry got going full steam.
When you are dressing fish at the table, #1, gills, #2 guts, #3 kidney, #4 scrape the veins, #5 knock off the lice, soak in washdown tub for a bit, #6 hand wash any blood, #7 ice or put on plates depending if ice boat or freezer boat. My observations are based on cleaning thousands of salmon over the years.
It didn't seem like adult salmon were adversely affected by sea lice but I can see how they could effect fry/smolts.
rockdog
Well-Known Member
The big problem is that after the adults have entered the rivers in the fall, the sea lice population drops off and the coast is fairly clear of sea lice in early spring when the fry leave their rivers. Now with the ONFF here, the sea lice are a major issue 365 days a year.
No one is saying Sea Lice never existed before open net pens. But now they are highly prevalent year round, and that was never natural.
The sooner the Farms are removed, the better off all our wild fish will be.
No one is saying Sea Lice never existed before open net pens. But now they are highly prevalent year round, and that was never natural.
The sooner the Farms are removed, the better off all our wild fish will be.
/C O R R E C T I O N -- Namgis First Nation/
In the news release, 'Namgis First Nation: New Evidence of Sea Lice on Salmon Unacceptable, issued 09-Sep-2025 by Namgis First Nation over PR Newswire, we are...
www.newswire.ca
That's the Jones et al. article we discussed a few posts back.
Abstract
The management of infectious agents within Canadian fisheries and aquaculture relies on Fisheries and Oceans, Canada (DFO) to assess the pathogenicity of infectious agents. Limitations and issues of scientific accuracy within the “Disease Agent Assessment form” for Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) and Tenacibaculum maritimum illustrate how, in certain cases, the regulation of pathogens can fail to be evidence based and meet international scientific standards. Shortcomings in the assessment’s content resulted in DFO concluding that T. maritimum is not “likely to cause disease... in wild fish populations” and that Piscine orthoreovirus is not an “infectious disease agent”, despite reliable evidence suggesting the opposite. Urgent and comprehensive reforms are needed to enhance transparency and incorporate independent and external review into DFO’s disease assessment process. These steps are essential to ensuring that internal science advice effectively informs the management of infectious diseases and associated risk to fisheries.Similar threads
