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<h2><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>Fish
farms linked to sea lice outbreak<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h3 id=deck><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Parasite
found on farmed B.C. salmon infecting wild fish stocks, scientists say<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><a
href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070227.BCLICE27/EmailTPStory/National">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070227.BCLICE27/EmailTPStory/National</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=byline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>CATHRYN ATKINSON <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=source><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Special to The Globe and Mail<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><!-- dateline --><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><!-- Summary -->VANCOUVER</span></font></st1:City><!-- /dateline -->
-- For the first time in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>,
scientists have used data from the world's largest aquaculture company to draw
a link between sea lice from Atlantic salmon on <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">British Columbia</st1:place></st1:State> fish farms and soaring
infection rates in wild salmon migrating nearby.<o:p></o:p></p>
<!-- /Summary -->
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>After an
infestation caused the near collapse of wild spring salmon stocks in the Broughton
Archipelago in 2002, Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch
Salmon Society, collected information from the Norwegian company Marine Harvest
on sea lice at its fish farms in the region. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
had predicted 3.6 million [wild] salmon returning to the Broughton in 2002.
What we got back, according to the [Department of] Fisheries and Oceans count,
was 147,000 fish - a 97-per-cent crash that was only in the Broughton,"
said Dr. Orr, who is also the science co-ordinator for the Coastal Alliance for
Aquaculture Reform. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Watershed
Watch is a non-governmental organization that monitors B.C. water systems.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. Orr
also studied a sea lice action plan brought in by the provincial government
after the collapse -- the only time any such plan to curb sea lice population
growth has occurred in B.C. -- in his search for growth patterns in the
parasite's demographics.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
results were published last week in an article for the North American Journal
of Fisheries Management.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. Orr
discovered that 12 active, open net-cage farms in the Broughton, which is
composed of dozens of islands between the B.C. mainland and the northern tip of
Vancouver Island, contained between one and five million Atlantic salmon and
produced billions of lice eggs over an 18-month period in 2003 and 2004.
Louse-egg production peaked during late winter in both years, just before the
seaward migration of juvenile wild salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>His
article confirms that when lice-egg production was reduced by early harvesting
of farmed salmon, infections on wild juvenile salmon near the farms declined
dramatically -- including a 42-fold reduction near one emptied farm.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"What
we do now know is what's happening on these farms. And it's transparent,
finally. And that's critical," Dr. Orr said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
do hope that the [government] management agencies and the industry are willing
to work towards reducing those peaks of lice just before the juvenile fish come
out. That's why we're doing all this."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>He
praised Marine Harvest for making the data available, something aquaculture
companies have done in Europe but not yet in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. Orr
said he wants to see a change in practices, especially from the provincial
government, which oversees fish farming in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">British Columbia</st1:place></st1:State>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
are critical of government because they aren't producing data. They aren't
making these companies share the data like they are in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>,
with the exception of Marine Harvest -- and they didn't make them. [Marine
Harvest] volunteered it," Dr. Orr said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
migration of wild spring salmon usually begins in the first days of March. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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