Controlling the parasite

Christine Dobby
August 10, 2010
The New Brunswick Business Journal

New Brunswick's salmon growers are hoping a novel treatment for sea lice involving a chartered well boat from Norway will help them control the parasite.

The Ronja Carrier, chartered by the New Brunswick Salmon Growers' Association at a cost of $12,000 per day for six months, has been at work in the Bay of Fundy since June, treating farmed salmon with a hydrogen peroxide-based mixture and gathering data to help get the new treatment method approved by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, a division of Health Canada.

Pamela Parker, executive director of the industry-funded association, is optimistic about the project

"It's been working quite well," she said, adding "We get very good lice removal from the hydrogen peroxide. This is the first time we've ever been able to use it in a well boat in New Brunswick."

Sea lice, a naturally occurring parasite on fish, are transmitted to farmed salmon from a variety of sources, including wild salmon explained Parker. According to the NBSGA website, damage inflicted by sea lice weakens the fish and increases their susceptibility to potentially fatal secondary infections. Although, Parker said, it doesn't have a human health impact or affect the quality of the meat.

In the past, salmon farmers have relied on in-feed treatments - such as emamectin benzoate, sold as SLICE - which were very effective but Parker said species develop resistance to such solutions absent rotation with other tools, which is a necessary part of an integrated pest management program.

Read the full story in the New Brunswick Business Journal