N.B. salmon not threatened by sea lice, says environmentalist

A new study shows sea lice from farmed salmon in B.C. are killing wild salmon and that the results apply to fish farms everywhere, but a conservation group in New Brunswicksays its researchhas foundthe same thing is not happening here.

Sue Scott, a spokeswoman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, said Mondaytheorganization's research in the Bay of Fundy three years ago showed sea lice were not infecting wild salmon.

"We found 125 smolt and there was only one louse," she said. "So we do not feel, at the moment, that sea lice is the problem."

'We found 125 smolt and there was only one louse.So we do not feel, at the moment, that sea lice is the problem.' -Sue Scott

Mark Burgham, a spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, confirmed the salmon federation's findings in the Bay of Fundy study. He said scientists looked at wild juvenile salmon in the same area and found no increase in mortality from sea liceor negative impact on the wild fish.

The study in B.C., published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, found sea lice from fish farms are killing large numbers of wild juvenile salmon that migrate past the facilities.

Farms typically contain their fish in net pens that are open to the water, making it possible for the parasites to be transmitted to the environment around them, researchers said.

Ateam of biologists and mathematiciansconducted the research withfunding primarily from the federal government.

They said the results apply anywhere wild fish and fish farmingare in the same area.

Not all environmentalists, however,agree that the wild salmon are safe from disease.

Janice Harvey, a New Brunswick environmentalist and columnist, said fish farmers must change their practices based on the B.C. study.

"It needs to start to move toward a transition from the open-net pens toward more a closed system where disease pathogens, parasites like sea lice, solid waste and pollution that comes from these sites is contained and treated," said Harvey.