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<div class=Section1>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Lice
>From Fish Farms Killing Wild Salmon<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061002-sea-lice.html">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061002-sea-lice.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>John Roach <br>
for <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic News</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>October 2, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=intro><!-- leave the z-deck alone! --><!--- startbody --><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Clouds of sea lice
billowing from fish farms infect and kill up to 95 percent of the wild juvenile
salmon that swim past the farms on the way out to sea, according to a new
study. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
finding is further evidence that aquaculture—the practice of raising fish
in underwater cages or nets or in tanks—is dangerous to wild fish
populations, according to the researchers.<!--- deckend --> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><!-- GOING_NEWSCHOOL_ENLARGE --><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/99459756.html"><!--- start major_NEWSCHOOL_ENLARGE.html --><span
style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=170 height=114
id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01C6E70F.41A27790"
alt="Sea lice on salmon - photo" class=photo></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/99459756.html">Enlarge
Photo</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><!--- end major_NEWSCHOOL_ENLARGE.html -->RELATED <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<ul type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0819_040819_taimen_fishing.html">Can
Angling Save World's Largest Salmon? (August 19, 2004)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0307/feature5/zoom1.html">Atlantic
Salmon Photos From <i><span style='font-style:italic'>National Geographic</span></i>
Magazine</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1028_031028_atlanticsalmon.html">Wild-Farm
Salmon Hybrids Not Reaching Spawning Grounds (October 28, 2003)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
</ul>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><!-- end rel stor subtemplate -->The
fish-farming industry has kept a steady supply of cheap salmon on supermarket
shelves as wild salmon populations have crashed in recent decades from
overfishing. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>(Related:
<a
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0616_030616_farmsalmon.html">"Salmon
Farm Escapees Threaten Wild Salmon Stocks"</a> [June 16, 2003].) <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But the
farms are controversial. One thorny debate is over whether the practice
enhances the spread of deadly diseases to wild salmon populations. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
answer is yes, suggests a new study of Canadian farms, to be published tomorrow
in the journal <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Proceedings of the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">National</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Academy</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of Sciences.</span></i> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
results will undoubtedly intensify the debate," Ray Hilborn, a fisheries scientist
at the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName> in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City>,
wrote in an accompanying commentary. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Changed Ecology</span></font></b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Sea lice
are common on adult salmon. But at 15 to 40 pounds (7 to 18 kilograms) and
covered in scaly armor, the mature fish face little threat from the tiny lice. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Juvenile
salmon, however, are only about an inch (2.5 centimeters) long and lack scales.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
lice inflict really severe damage on the surface of the fish," said Martin
Krkošek, a mathematical biologist at the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Alberta</st1:PlaceName> in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Edmonton</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Their
feeding activity results in big lesions, puncture wounds, open sores.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=intro><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
the wild, the salmon's migratory life cycle naturally separates adults from
juveniles: Most adults are far out to sea when the juveniles swim from the
rivers where they were born and into the ocean. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As a
result, wild juveniles are rarely exposed to the lice, Krkošek says. <o:p></o:p></span></font><!--- deckend --></p>
<p><!-- GOING_NEWSCHOOL_ENLARGE --><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><!--- start major_NEWSCHOOL_ENLARGE.html -->But
fish farms holding hundreds of thousands of adult salmon in open net pens have
sprouted up in the narrow channels and inlets along the salmon migration routes
in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada (<a
href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=canada&Rootmap=cabc">map
of British Columbia</a>). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Clouds of
sea lice form around the pens, forcing juvenile fish to swim through them on
the way out to sea, Krkošek said. As the juveniles pass by the fish farms,
the sea lice attack. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
farms are changing the ecology of this parasite," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Krkošek
led the new study, which used a mathematical model to estimate the impact of
fish farms on salmon populations. The model combined data on infection rates
from fish farms with the effect the lice have on salmon. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The team
found that wild salmon mortality due to lice from fish farms ranged from 9 to
95 percent, depending on the time of the year. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Krkošek
explains that early in the migration season, the sea lice are less abundant
than they are toward the end of the migration season, which is also when the
most juveniles migrate past the farms. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
are erring towards 95 percent [mortality] towards the end of the season,"
he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
researchers say nonfarm sea lice infect some juveniles before they reach the
fish farms. But infection rates due to natural encounters with sea lice are
limited to about 5 percent of the population and only one louse per fish, they
say. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Once
they pass the farms, we are getting [up to] over 90 percent prevalence. Some
salmon populations are 100 percent infected, and they have 20, 30, 40 lice
each," Krkošek said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Research Implications</span></font></b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>According
to Krkošek, other farmed fish may be transmitting diseases to their wild
cousins in a similar fashion. If so, ocean-based fish farms may not be the best
bet for countering the effects of overfishing. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"This
disease mechanism is likely to cause problems wherever aquaculture goes and
interferes with natural systems," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Hilborn,
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> fisheries
scientist, writes that the large-scale impacts of salmon farming on wild fish
populations remain murky. But the data presented "would seem to support an
important population level impact." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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