Heads up on the latest fish farm scheme

Posted On February 03, 2011
















I read with interest a report about a new scheme from Norway’s Fishery and Aquaculture Industry Research Fund to combat sea lice in farmed salmon. The plan? Place lice-loving Ballan wrasse into aquaculture cages alongside the salmon. Seems wrasse can eat an impressive amount of sea lice—one specimen had 300 of the nasty critters in its stomach—so the Norwegians aim to use them as vacuum cleaners.  

And they’re pretty serious about this, planning to spend U.S.$4.5 million over the next three years on a pilot project, complete with plans to farm the wrasse themselves to ensure a stable supply of the voracious cage cleaners. The researchers contend this will provide an environmentally friendly alternative to otherwise using chemicals to get rid of the lice.  

That’s all fine and well in Norway and the eastern Atlantic, where the Ballan wrasse is a native fish. But the project does raise two interesting points.  

For starters, lice are a problem in salmon aquaculture? Hold on here, haven’t the big Norwegian-owned fish farms in B.C.—along with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, for that matter—been telling us for years that the sea lice aren’t an issue and have nothing to do with harming wild stocks? Apparently, they’re a problem in Norway, though.  

Secondly, if the project succeeds, will the Norwegians seek to do likewise in the aquaculture cages along the B.C. coast? If so, let’s get the alarm bells ringing now. Introduce a farmed, non-native species (wrasse) to clean up the mess started by another farmed, non-native species (Atlantic salmon)? Don’t put it past the farms. And don’t put it past the DFO to let it happen.

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About

Patrick Walsh (Twitter: @OutdoorWalsh)
Patrick Walsh (Twitter: @OutdoorWalsh)

Joined November 18, 2010

///// FOLLOW ON TWITTER: @OutdoorWalsh ///// Outdoor Canada Editor Patrick Walsh grew up fishing and hunting in Bracebridge, Ontario, where he began his magazine career in 1983 as assistant editor of Muskoka Life. Since then, he has worked for a variety of media, both in Canada and abroad, earning numerous writing and editing awards. In both 2011 and 2005, the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors named him Editor of the Year, while Outdoor Canada was honoured as Magazine of the Year. Learn more: www.outdoorcanada.ca.

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