Differences in Lepeophtheirus salmonis abundance levels on Atlantic salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada

• Published in: Journal of Fish Diseases
• Main Authors: Saksida, S, Karreman, G A, Constantine, J, Donald, A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2007
• Subjects: British Columbia; Canada; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2761.2007.00814.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2761.2007.00814.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2761.2007.00814.x

Abstract Sea lice data collected from Atlantic salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago between 2003 and 2005 were examined for inter‐regional differences in mobile Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer) abundance using the generalized linear model procedure. Factors such as age of the salmon populations, location of farms and time of year had a significant effect on the abundance of the mobile stages of L. salmonis whereas water temperature and salinity did not. Separate evaluation of SLICE® treatment data found no significant difference in treatment frequency among the areas but did show that there were significantly lower numbers of farm treatments during the summer months when compared with other seasons. The role of environment and wild fish in influencing sea lice abundance on the farmed salmon is discussed. The findings suggest that effective management programmes for sea lice should not only be based on geographical location but should take into account other factors which could influence lice abundance levels.