Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base
Stocking cleaner fish to control sea lice infestations in Atlantic salmon farms is widespread and is viewed as a salmon welfare-friendly alternative to current delousing control treatments. The escalating demand for cleaner fish (~60 million stocked worldwide per year), coupled with evidence that th...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:242b65a84406413cbdbdb8e8da5fe0ca 2023-05-15T15:32:47+02:00 Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base Overton, K Barrett, LT Oppedal, F Kristiansen, TS Dempster, T 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00345 https://doaj.org/article/242b65a84406413cbdbdb8e8da5fe0ca EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/aei/v12/p31-44/ https://doaj.org/toc/1869-215X https://doaj.org/toc/1869-7534 1869-215X 1869-7534 doi:10.3354/aei00345 https://doaj.org/article/242b65a84406413cbdbdb8e8da5fe0ca Aquaculture Environment Interactions, Vol 12, Pp 31-44 (2020) Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling SH1-691 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00345 2022-12-31T01:35:20Z Stocking cleaner fish to control sea lice infestations in Atlantic salmon farms is widespread and is viewed as a salmon welfare-friendly alternative to current delousing control treatments. The escalating demand for cleaner fish (~60 million stocked worldwide per year), coupled with evidence that they experience poor welfare and high mortality in sea cages, requires that the lice removal effect of cleaner fish be substantiated by robust evidence. Here, we systematically analysed (1) studies that tested the delousing efficacy of cleaner fish species in tanks or sea cages and (2) studies of spatial overlap—and therefore likely encounter rate—between cleaner fish and salmon when stocked together in sea cages. Only 11 studies compared lice removal between tanks or cages with and without cleaner fish using a replicated experimental design. Most studies had insufficient replication (1 or 2 replicates) and were conducted in small-scale tanks or cages, which does not reflect the large volume and deep cages in which they are deployed commercially. Reported efficacies varied across species and experimental scale: from a 28% increase to a 100% reduction in lice numbers when cleaner fish were used. Further, our review revealed that the interaction of cleaner fish and salmon in sea cages has rarely been documented. While much of the evidence is promising, there is a mismatch between the current evidence and the extent of use by the industry. We recommend replicated studies in 9 key areas at a full commercial scale across all species that are currently widely used. More targeted, evidence-based use of cleaner fish should increase their efficacy and help to alleviate economic, environmental, and ethical concerns. Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Aquaculture Environment Interactions 12 31 44 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling SH1-691 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling SH1-691 Ecology QH540-549.5 Overton, K Barrett, LT Oppedal, F Kristiansen, TS Dempster, T Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base |
topic_facet |
Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling SH1-691 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Stocking cleaner fish to control sea lice infestations in Atlantic salmon farms is widespread and is viewed as a salmon welfare-friendly alternative to current delousing control treatments. The escalating demand for cleaner fish (~60 million stocked worldwide per year), coupled with evidence that they experience poor welfare and high mortality in sea cages, requires that the lice removal effect of cleaner fish be substantiated by robust evidence. Here, we systematically analysed (1) studies that tested the delousing efficacy of cleaner fish species in tanks or sea cages and (2) studies of spatial overlap—and therefore likely encounter rate—between cleaner fish and salmon when stocked together in sea cages. Only 11 studies compared lice removal between tanks or cages with and without cleaner fish using a replicated experimental design. Most studies had insufficient replication (1 or 2 replicates) and were conducted in small-scale tanks or cages, which does not reflect the large volume and deep cages in which they are deployed commercially. Reported efficacies varied across species and experimental scale: from a 28% increase to a 100% reduction in lice numbers when cleaner fish were used. Further, our review revealed that the interaction of cleaner fish and salmon in sea cages has rarely been documented. While much of the evidence is promising, there is a mismatch between the current evidence and the extent of use by the industry. We recommend replicated studies in 9 key areas at a full commercial scale across all species that are currently widely used. More targeted, evidence-based use of cleaner fish should increase their efficacy and help to alleviate economic, environmental, and ethical concerns. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Overton, K Barrett, LT Oppedal, F Kristiansen, TS Dempster, T |
author_facet |
Overton, K Barrett, LT Oppedal, F Kristiansen, TS Dempster, T |
author_sort |
Overton, K |
title |
Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base |
title_short |
Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base |
title_full |
Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base |
title_fullStr |
Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base |
title_sort |
sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00345 https://doaj.org/article/242b65a84406413cbdbdb8e8da5fe0ca |
genre |
Atlantic salmon |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon |
op_source |
Aquaculture Environment Interactions, Vol 12, Pp 31-44 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/aei/v12/p31-44/ https://doaj.org/toc/1869-215X https://doaj.org/toc/1869-7534 1869-215X 1869-7534 doi:10.3354/aei00345 https://doaj.org/article/242b65a84406413cbdbdb8e8da5fe0ca |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00345 |
container_title |
Aquaculture Environment Interactions |
container_volume |
12 |
container_start_page |
31 |
op_container_end_page |
44 |
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1766363265705705472 |