Salmon farms kill wild fish, study shows
For the past several years I have followed the fight to save the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada. There are a number of threats to this great river and its tributaries, but none more urgent then the pending Fish-Farms that are planned for the estuary and surrounding areas. The science available on the impact of these farms is nothing less then amazing, and I would guess that if you sat down and explained both the benefits and the negatives of these Fish-Farms to the average human being 95% of them would never consider them. But as we all know, money talks and even with mountains of evidence which basically tell us that if these Fish-Farms are put the mouth of the Skeena, the populations of wild salmon and steelhead are doomed and would likely be gone within a decade, they are still on the table. Are you amazed? I sure as hell am.
Tim Pask
Below is an excerpt of a recent study that was done. The findings? SALMON FARMS KILL WILD FISH
Salmon farms kill wild fish, study shows
New research confirms that sea lice from fish farms kill wild salmon. Up to 95 per cent of the wild juvenile salmon that migrate past fish farms die as a result of sea lice infestation from the farms. The results of the research have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America.
"We know that fish farms raise sea lice levels, and we know that sea lice kill fish," said the study's lead author Martin Krkosek, a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta Centre for Mathematical Biology. "This is the first study to combine field surveys, experiments and mathematical modeling in one system to estimate the total impact of the farms."
The primary sea lice hosts are adult salmon. Under natural conditions, the adults are far offshore when the juveniles are migrating out to sea. Fish farms put adult salmon in net pens along the migration routes. The result is a cloud of sea lice through which the juveniles must migrate. "It takes only one or two sea lice to kill a juvenile pink or chum salmon," said Krkosek. "The juveniles are so vulnerable because they are so small ˆ only one to two inches long."
"We often worry about wildlife making humans sick, but here is a case where humans are making wildlife sick," said study co-author Dr. Mark Lewis, a mathematician and biologist at the University of Alberta.
The study found an increasing number of salmon were killed over the migration season, from 9 per cent in early spring when the sea lice population was low to 95 per cent in late spring when the sea lice population was higher.
See the rest here http://www.friendsofwildsalmon.ca/news/cbc-october-2-2006-salmon-farms-kill-wild-fish-study-shows
