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Study: Sea lice don’t threaten salmon stocks

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By SeafoodSource staff
01 February, 2013 - A new study by the Marine Institute and NUIG Galway in Ireland has found that sea lice are not a significant threat to the conservation status of salmon stocks.

The study, published in the Journal of Fish Diseases, examined 350,000 fish in eight different rivers in 28 separate experiments over a nine-year period. The study concluded that the sea lice threat to wild salmon has “no basis in scientific fact.”

The study also described previous reports trying to argue sea lice from salmon farms are adversely affecting the wild salmon population as having “serious flaws.” The study condemned the reports as “scare stories” put out by anti-fish farming advocates.

“I welcome the findings which are rigorous, definitive and unequivocal,” said Phil Thomas, chairman of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organization. “They scientifically expose those who would use speculation and advocacy-based arguments as if they were facts.”

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