Twyla Roscovich on sea lice

A must-see documentary by Twyla Roscovich on salmon fish farms. It specifically addresses the issue of sea lice and Marine Harvest's usage of the SLICE neurotoxin to try to control the epidemic.

Also, I asked Alexandra Morton yesterday why the pink of the Broughton Archipelago are recovering this year while the Fraser sockeye have crashed and how this relates to the sea lice. I am posting her response below:

First of all they went to sea in different years, 2007 for the sockeye and 2008 for the pinks.

Second the fish farmers are delousing their fish in early spring to accommodate the pinks because we all raised this high enough in the media. I looked at both the pinks and the sockeye that are returning this year. The Pinks in both Discovery Islands and Broughton has low lice levels. Marine Harvest deloused their fish and this reduced the lice on the pinks.

But the drug only lasts about 6 weeks and so the sockeye I looked at in the Discovery Islands had heavy lice loads only weeks after the pinks had passed through relatively cleanly.

But I really suspect a disease problem here. The pinks that went through the Discovery Islands with these sockeye in 2007, came home last year and the Broughton was the lowest return yet and the southern pinks I don’t think did well at all either.

I wonder if this is why the Province bailed on fish farms two days ago. I would really like to know what they know.

alex

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