| Summary: | The issue of sea lice (Lepeoptheirus salmonis and Caligus clemensii) transfer from salmon farms to wild salmon is a controversial topic in British Columbia (BC). A series of sea lice epizootics (four in five years) on juvenile chum (Oncorhynchus keta) and pink (0. gorbuscha) salmon in the Broughton Archipelago (BA), an area with the highest density of salmon farms on the west coast, have caused significant concern among conservationists, local First Nations, and the general public over the possible impacts of salmon farms on wild salmon. Key to the debate has been a lack of data on ambient sea lice infection rates on juvenile salmon in the absence of the influence of salmon farms. This work represents one of the first attempts to empirically examine ambient sea lice infection rates on juvenile salmonids. Objectives were to test hypotheses including: geographic variability is a significant factor in sea lice population dynamics, ambient sea lice infection rates on juvenile salmon are low, juvenile salmon susceptibility to sea lice infection, and the influence of salmon farms on ambient sea lice infection rates. Over a three year period, samples of juvenile chum and pink salmon (n=13.874) were collected using a beach seine net in the central coast of British Columbia (Klemtu/Bella iv Bella), a vast area with limited salmon farming activity. and with geography that allowed for simultaneous assessment in the same region of the natural interaction between sea lice and juvenile salmon and the influence of salmon farms on the interaction. Sampling was also conducted in other areas without salmon farms (Southern Gulf Islands: n=3847) and with salmon farms (Broughton Archipelago; n=3911). The results of the field experiments were also used in conjunction with laboratory experiments to examine the susceptibility of juvenile chum vs. pink salmon to infection by sea lice. The ambient lice infection rates for juvenile chum and pink salmon were up to 32% prevalence, less than one louse per fish and less than two lice per gram ...
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