Lumpfish and other cleanerfish are used in the global aquaculture industry as a sea lice management tool, but the method has yet to make serious headway in the U.S.
Sea lice, which have found to be prevalent in the Atlantic salmon farming industries in Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and Chile, affect the health, welfare, and quality of farmed fish. It’s also possible for sea lice to transfer between farm-raised and wild salmon populations, and many anti-sea lice treatments can be harmful to the environment. Sea lice settle on their host as free-swimming larvae, then attachfirmly to feed from the salmon. They cause physical damage and stress to the fish, and adversely affect growth and performance. Severe infestations can lead to secondary infections and mass mortalities, which have become all too common throughout the industry.
While aquaculture leaders in Norway – which produced 31.1 million lumpfish in 2018 – and Canada – which produced two million lumpfish in 2019 (and will soon add another three to five million fish annually after completing a commercial lumpfish hatchery in Newfoundland) – have been producing large amounts of lumpfish commercially, the U.S. is lagging behind. The country produced just 15,000 fish last year – the first year any lumpfish production was recorded.
But now, the U.S. Lumpfish Consortium, a collaborative program founded to support the development of commercial lumpfish production in the U.S., is making the case to ramp up lumpfish production as soon as possible, specifically throughout New England. The consortium includes several research institutions and aquaculture businesses interested in promoting the growth of lumpfish.
“There’s a need in the U.S.,” Elizabeth Fairchild, a research professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Department of Biological Sciences, told SeafoodSource. “There aren’t any lumpfish being produced commercially here yet. Through these partnerships, we’re trying to raise awareness of the benefits of cleaner fish in salmonid farming.”
One of the biggest challenges in building up lumpfish production in the U.S., aside from educating industry leaders and regulators on the potential benefits, will be building a source of local broodstock and eggs. Lumpfish is a species native to the northwest Atlantic and research shows that the population in the Atlantic along the U.S. East Coast is a single population. But Fairchild said more research is needed to ensure sustainable management.
“In the interest of good, responsible aquaculture, we’ve got to make sure that we’re using local populations for broodstock if these fish are going out into the ocean,” Fairchild said.
Maine and New Hampshire have been identified as ideal sites for commercial lumpfish production because of the adequate availability of cold seawater and the steadily increasing number of salmon and trout farms in the region.
According to Fairchild, operations in Maine alone could make do with 300,000 to 400,000 lumpfish annually. Cooke Aquaculture, which is operating numerous locations previously occupied by Maine’s fallen herring fishery, is reportedly very interested in the program, as the company has had success using lumpfish in their Canada locations.
Fairchild sees lumpfish not as an end-all solution for sea lice in aquaculture, but as a very important and affordable piece of an overall sea lice prevention strategy.
Photo courtesy of Tim Briggs/New Hampshire Sea Grant
