Sea Lice

May 2, 2003

April Sea Lice Count Dangerously High

During the highest period of wild smolt migration, sea lice counts on farms in the Broughton Archipelago are 50% higher than allowed under regulations that have been in place in Norway since 1998 (0.5 gravid lice per fish). For fish over 7 kilograms, the gravid sea lice load is four times the Norwegean limit.

In early April the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food released the sea lice monitoring statistics for March. For fish over 7 kilograms, it showed sea lice counts at 6 times the limit allowed in Norway. At that time the Ministry's fish farm friendly website said that "it is anticipated that the lice levels in April will be significantly reduced - during the highest period of wild smolt migration. And we will continue to monitor and audit and manage the lice, and take appropriate action." The updated data on the Ministry's website, http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/fisheries/health/sealice_monitoring_update.htm, show an improvement but the April level would still attract substantial fines in Norway. In BC nothing is being done outside of a public relations campaign while the wild salmon runs may be allowed to become extinct. We know that the $300 per plate Campbell fundraiser served lamb rather than farmed salmon, but we don't know how many dollars the acquaculture industry poured into the event.

A government that cared about wild salmon would demand that the farms be emptied (fallowed).

April 11, 2003

Sea Lice at 6 times Norwegian Limits!

Reading the transcript of debate in the legislature, Hansard, doesn't do justice to Joy MacPhail's debate with Fisheries Minister John van Dongen. After each question was put to the Minister, he sat for a couple of minutes consulting with his staff before rising and repeating a previous answer that missed the point. The following is a sample of the exchange:

J. MacPhail: "Just for the sake of the members of the House, this would go a lot faster if the minister would actually answer my question. That was the answer he gave previously.
What is the regulation? How does it work? How often do they have to report? What's the fine for non-compliance? Is it equal to Norway's? Is it made public? Has anybody started doing this yet, or was it April 1 that it came into effect - six days ago?"

Hon. J. van Dongen: "First of all, in answer to the member's question, the methodology that's used is consistent with other jurisdictions. The farms have been collecting the data for the past three months. It has been a condition of their licence since March. They report every two weeks. The first set of numbers will be posted on our website tomorrow. The fines are $2,000 under the regulation, and each day is a separate event or could be a separate fine."

J. MacPhail: "Well, I guess that doesn't compare to the $100,000 dailies that the Norway regulation has. It's probably not the most comprehensive. Maybe the minister should stop saying they have the most comprehensive set of regulations on fish farms. Recently, when this minister was on hiatus, his replacement stated publicly that aquaculture fines were nonsensical. What is the minister doing to bring some sense, then, to the fines system?"

As promised by van Dongen, data on sea lice in BC's fish farms was posted to the Ministry's website on April 9th, but it is so aggregated that is it difficult to tell whether problems might exist on any particular farm. It is not easy to find the sea lice status report on the Ministry's website so I had to contact the public affairs bureau and ask for the address, http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/fisheries/health/sealice_monitoring_update.htm. The webpage provides the average number of both gravid (egg bearing) and motile lice per fish for three different sizes of fish.

Since 1998 in Norway regulations provide consequences if the gravid count exceeds 0.5 gravid lice per fish during the sensitive spring session. Ireland sets limits at 0.3 to 0.5 gravid lice per fish. The BC data for March show that the larger fish (7 or more kilograms) had gravid counts averaging 3.24 on 5 farms that were sampled. In other words, in 5 of the 16 farms tested, sea lice levels were more than 6 times higher than allowed in Norway! Rather than expressing shock at this finding, van Dongen's fish farm friendly website says:

"The larger fish show higher loads but are either being harvested or treated to kill the lice - either approach will remove these lice from the environment."
"Thus, it is anticipated that the lice levels in April will be significantly reduced - during the highest period of wild smolt migration. And we will continue to monitor and audit and manage the lice, and take appropriate action."

The site has one thing right - removing the fish will protect the environment. That is precisely why all of the farmed fish should be removed, i.e. the farms should be fallowed immediately, and van Dongen should resign for acting as an apologist for fish farms rather than protecting the wild salmon.