Salmon Lice Abundance Research Articles

Salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) in the stomach contents of lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) sampled from Norwegian fish farms: Relationship between lice grazing and operational conditions

Cleaner fish are commonly used as a control measure against salmon lice infestations in salmonid farms. Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) is the most common cleaner fish species used in Norwegian farms. However, little is known about how different operational, including environmental, conditions affect the salmon lice grazing efficacy by lumpfish. In this paper, we analyse salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) in the stomach contents of a large sample of more than 20,000 lumpfish from 80 different Norwegian farms. We investigate the proportion of lumpfish with salmon lice and the mean number of salmon lice in the stomach contents of the lumpfish. We further explore how the salmon lice contents vary with different factors like lumpfish weight, weight of salmonids, salmon lice abundance in the cage, cloud cover, and sea temperature. We find that 3.1% of the 24,693 lumpfish contained salmon lice. Most of the lumpfish with salmon lice in their stomach contents contained few (one or two) lice, while there were a few lumpfish which contained many salmon lice. We find more salmon lice in the stomach contents with increasing abundance of salmon lice in the sea cage, lower weight of the salmonids, and in clear weather. Interestingly, for the relationship between lumpfish weight and salmon lice in the stomach contents, we find increased salmon lice grazing from ca. 5 g up to an optimal weight of ca. 40 g, and then a decrease from 40 g. Surprisingly, we find no relationship between sea temperature and salmon lice per lumpfish. We find more salmon lice in the stomach contents of the lumpfish with comparatively high condition. By studying the factors associated with most efficient salmon lice grazing, our paper contributes to understanding how different operational factors affect salmon lice grazing by lumpfish. For controllable factors, the results thus contribute to guiding the best practice for use of lumpfish as a salmon lice control measure.

Imperfect Estimation of Lepeophtheirus salmonis Abundance and Its Impact on Salmon Lice Treatment on Atlantic Salmon Farms

Accurate monitoring of sea lice levels on salmon farms is critical to the efficient management of louse infestation, as decisions around whether and when to apply treatment depend on an estimation of abundance. However, as with all sampling, the estimated abundance of salmon lice through sampling salmon cannot perfectly represent the abundance on a given farm. While suggestions to improve the accuracy of lice abundance estimates have previously been made, the significance of the accuracy of such estimation has been poorly understood. Understanding the extent of error or bias in sample estimates can facilitate an assessment as to how influential this “imperfect” information will likely be on management decisions, and support methods to mitigate negative outcomes associated with such imperfect estimates. Here, we built a model of a hypothetical Atlantic salmon farm using ordinary differential equations and simulated salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) abundance over an entire production cycle, during which salmon were periodically sampled using Monte Carlo approaches that adopted a variety of sample sizes, treatment thresholds, and sampling intervals. The model could thus track two instances of salmon lice abundance: true abundance (based on the underlying model) and monitored abundance (based on the values that could be estimated under different simulated sampling protocols). Treatments, which depend on monitored abundance, could be characterized as early, timely, or late, as a result of over-estimation, appropriate estimation, and under-estimation, respectively. To achieve timely treatment, it is important to delay treatments until true abundance equals some treatment threshold and to execute treatment as soon as this threshold is reached. Adopting larger sample sizes increased the frequency of timely treatments, largely by reducing the incidence of early treatments due to less variance in the monitored abundance. Changes in sampling interval and treatment threshold also influenced the accuracy of abundance estimates and thus the frequency of timely treatments. This study has implications for the manner in which fish should be sampled on salmon farms to ensure accurate salmon lice abundance estimates and consequently the effective application treatment.

Lice pressure from salmon farms on wild sea trout (Salmo trutta) in a Norwegian fjord

Event Abstract Back to Event Lice pressure from salmon farms on wild sea trout (Salmo trutta) in a Norwegian fjord Pablo Arechavala-Lopez1*, Marius Berg2, Ingebrigt Uglem2, Pal Arne Bjorn3 and Bengt Finstad2 1 University of Alicante, Department of Marine Science and Applied Biology, Spain 2 Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Norway 3 Institute of Marine Research, Norway Salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis are external parasites on salmonids in the marine environment. However, during recent years, salmon lice abundance has increased due to the presence of salmon farming. Scientific studies shows that salmon farming increases the abundance of lice in the marine habitat and that salmon lice in the most intensively farmed areas have negatively affected wild fish populations. The present study assesses the spatiotemporal distribution of salmon lice infestations on wild sea trout population in the Romsdalsfjord region (Norway), and the potential relationship with fish-farming activity and environmental parameters in this area. Salmon lice at farms varied among localities or farming areas, although infestation levels were under the safety established thresholds (max: 0.5 adult females per fish) in most of the cases. However, salmon farms with these levels might produce and release millions of copepods, potentially infecting wild salmonids. In accordance, low lice loads were recorded on wild sea trout captured in areas with low farming activity, while higher mean loads were recorded in areas with higher farming activity. A clear seasonal pattern and a positive correlation between lice on sea trout and sea water temperature were observed throughout the study period. The estimated production of copepods at farms and the mobile lice counted on wild sea trout one month later were correlated, suggesting the potential use of lice monitoring on sea trout as a proxy indicator of salmon lice infestation risks. Image 1 Keywords: sea lice, parasite, Aquaculture, Environmental effects, salmonids, Norway Conference: XV European Congress of Ichthyology, Porto, Portugal, 7 Sep - 11 Sep, 2015. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Ecology, Conservation and Invasive Species Citation: Arechavala-Lopez P, Berg M, Uglem I, Bjorn P and Finstad B (2015). Lice pressure from salmon farms on wild sea trout (Salmo trutta) in a Norwegian fjord. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XV European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2015.03.00111 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Nov 2015; Published Online: 22 Nov 2015. * Correspondence: Dr. Pablo Arechavala-Lopez, University of Alicante, Department of Marine Science and Applied Biology, Alicante, 03690, Spain, pablo.arechavala@ua.es Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Pablo Arechavala-Lopez Marius Berg Ingebrigt Uglem Pal Arne Bjorn Bengt Finstad Google Pablo Arechavala-Lopez Marius Berg Ingebrigt Uglem Pal Arne Bjorn Bengt Finstad Google Scholar Pablo Arechavala-Lopez Marius Berg Ingebrigt Uglem Pal Arne Bjorn Bengt Finstad PubMed Pablo Arechavala-Lopez Marius Berg Ingebrigt Uglem Pal Arne Bjorn Bengt Finstad Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Dispersion of salmon lice in the Hardangerfjord

The abundance of salmon lice in the Hardangerfjord is potentially large enough to be a threat to the wild fish stocks of the fjord. The salmon louse spends a period of 2–4 weeks in its planktonic stages drifting in the current of the upper water masses of the fjord looking for suitable hosts on which to settle. It is important to assess the abundance and distribution of the lice in their planktonic phases in order to evaluate the infection pressure they represent to the wild fish. The current system of the upper water masses in the Hardangerfjord is highly variable and consists of a multitude of components. This implicates a similar variability of the salmon lice dispersion. We find the most efficient transport mechanism for planktonic salmon lice to be from internal pressure due to lateral variations of the water mass density. From current observations we find large water exchanges of the upper water masses in the fjord lasting for several days, approximately monthly. Numerical model results indicate that these exchange episodes extend for the whole length of the fjord. Hence, the salmon lice will be regularly transported several tens of kilometres. We find the influence area of salmon lice from a source to be potentially large as a small number of lice can cover large areas. However, the majority of the lice will stay relatively close to the source but not necessarily with the highest abundance in the source area. We also find aggregations of lice in certain areas, typically close to land and in bays.

Space-Time Modelling of the Spread of Salmon Lice between and within Norwegian Marine Salmon Farms

Parasitic salmon lice are potentially harmful to salmonid hosts and farm produced lice pose a threat to wild salmonids. To control salmon lice infections in Norwegian salmonid farming, numbers of lice are regularly counted and lice abundance is reported from all salmonid farms every month. We have developed a stochastic space-time model where monthly lice abundance is modelled simultaneously for all farms. The set of farms is regarded as a network where the degree of contact between farms depends on their seaway distance. The expected lice abundance at each farm is modelled as a function of i) lice abundance in previous months at the same farm, ii) at neighbourhood farms, and iii) other, unspecified sources. In addition, the model includes explanatory variables such as seawater temperature and farm-numbers of fish. The model gives insight into factors that affect salmon lice abundance and contributing sources of infection. New findings in this study were that 66% of the expected salmon lice abundance was attributed to infection within farms, 28% was attributed to infection from neighbourhood farms and 6% to non-specified sources of infection. Furthermore, we present the relative risk of infection between neighbourhood farms as a function of seaway distance, which can be viewed as a between farm transmission kernel for salmon lice. The present modelling framework lays the foundation for development of future scenario simulation tools for examining the spread and abundance of salmon lice on farmed salmonids under different control regimes.

Salmon lice, Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer), infestation in sympatric populations of Arctic char,Salvelinus alpinus (L.), and sea trout, Salmo trutta (L.), in areas near and distant from salmon farms

The abundance of salmon lice was examined in two stocks of sympatric anadromous Arctic char and sea trout in sub-Arctic regions in northern Norway in June, July, and August 1992 and 1993. One stock feeds in a coastal area exposed to moderate salmon farming activity (exposed area), while the other feed in a region without salmon farms (unexposed area). The salmon lice infestation on both species differed significantly between the exposed and unexposed area as well as between years and also between weeks within the same year. We did not detect, however, any clear significant differences in salmon lice abundance between sympatric populations of Arctic char and sea trout, or between different size groups of the species. The 1992 and 1993 infestation pattern in the exposed area showed an epidemic tendency in both Arctic char and sea trout, characterised by a sudden increase in both prevalence and abundance of lice larvae in July 1992 (23.6±25.7 lice/fish) and August 1993 (19.9±20.8 lice/fish). We therefore suggest that salmon lice epidemics, previously only observed on sea trout, may also occur in populations of Arctic char, and that fish farming contributes to the elevated lice level in wild fish. The fish in the unexposed area were also infested, although at significantly lower levels than fish from the exposed area. The infestation peaked in August 1992 at 13.0±18.1 lice/fish and August 1993 at 3.9±4.5 lice/fish, suggested that lice originating on ascending wild Atlantic salmon, or lice larvae drifting from farming areas, may infest Arctic char and sea trout also in unexposed localities in Subarctic areas.

Salmon lice infection of wild sea trout and Arctic char in marine and freshwaters: the effects of salmon farms

The abundance of salmon lice and the physiological effects of infection were examined in two stocks of sympatric sea trout and anadromous Arctic char in northern Norway. One stock feed in a coastal area with extensive salmon farming (exposed locality), while the other feed in a region with little farming activity (unexposed locality). The results showed that the lice infection was significantly higher at the exposed locality, at which the mean intensity of infection peaked in June and July at over 100 and 200 lice larvae per fish respectively. At the exposed locality we also observed a premature return to freshwater of the most heavily infected fish. Such behaviour has previously been interpreted as a response by the fish to reduce the stress caused by the infection and/or to enhance survival. Blood samples taken from sea trout at sea at the exposed locality showed a positive correlation between intensity of parasite infection and an increase in the plasma cortisol, chloride and blood glucose concentrations, while the correlations from sea trout in freshwater were more casual. Several indices pointed towards an excessive mortality of the heaviest infected fish, and 47% of the fish caught in freshwater and 32% of those captured at sea carried lice at intensities above the level that has been shown to induce mortality in laboratory experiments. Furthermore, almost half of all fish from the exposed locality had lice intensities that would probably cause osmoregulatory imbalance. High salmon lice infections may therefore have profound negative effects upon wild populations of sea trout. At the unexposed location, the infection intensities were low, and few fish carried more than 10 lice. These are probably within the normal range of natural infection and such intensities are not expected to affect the stock negatively.

Geographical and temporal variation in abundance of salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) on salmon (Salmo salar L.)

Surveys in the area around Austevoll Aquaculture Research station have failed to reveal the presence of a large number of the free-swimming stages of salmon lice in the water column. However, lice were abundant on salmon held in cages in this area. Lice-free salmon were used as collectors of lice at three sites chosen at varying distances from other known sources of lice (salmonid fish farms). The abundance of lice on salmon at particular sites was found to vary during the year and also between years. During the study period, variations were correlated with temperature, increased abundance occurring at higher temperatures (>6°C). Comparisons between sites during the period with the highest temperatures showed that lice abundance was negatively correlated with distance to other salmon farms in the area. During periods of colder temperatures (<6°C) lice abundance was positively correlated with distance to salmonid fish farms. In January 1995, it was possible to predict that 1995 would be a year with heavy lice burdens. The basis of the prediction was the accumulated difference between average temperature during the period 1978-1996 and the sea temperature for the 4-month period preceding the settling period.