In its most recent publicized report from June, Mowi showed a count of 3.21 lice per fish at Shaw Point. In early March, Mowi reported 0.95 motiles after mechanical removal, and then 8.67, 6.52, and 20.94 successively in the three weeks following. In Mowi’s Shaw Point farm, near Campbell River, motile counts dropped after mechanical lice removal treatment, but bounced up again by the next count. They’re a naturally occuring parasite brought into farming and migration areas by wild adult salmon, he said.

It’s a salmon farmer’s responsibility to manage the infestation, but Hall noted that fish farmers do not have control of the sea lice populations in the ocean. Shawn Hall, media relations spokesperson for BC Salmon Farmers’ Association, said sea lice levels seem to be high due to ocean conditions. Typical treatments are medicinal baths, mechanical removal or a chemical treatments in the fish feed. The DFO added that the three-motile limit is a “precautionary level designed to trigger a management action for treatment before any higher harm threshold is reached.”Įach of the farms that reported over-threshold amounts did take action to bring the numbers down. That’s roughly a third of the outmigration period time. The evaluation of violations involves the amount of time a farm operator has to bring lice levels back under three – 42 days. In a later email, the DFO spokesperson said, “It is a violation to go into March 1 with more than the three motile.” Yet, the DFO stated in an email to The Gazette that, “Sea lice in British Columbia during the 2020 outmigration (March 1 to June 30) have been controlled, with no facilities violating licence conditions.” This March, 14 farms self-reported lice counts higher than three. The small fish swim past farms where they are exposed to sea lice, inadvertently hosted in fish farms. The DFO limit is three lice per salmon between March 1 and June 30, recognized as a vulnerable time for wild salmon migrating out to sea. Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has not released more recent information.

had the next four highest counts: 14.23, 11.98, 10.03 and 9.38 motile per fish reported at four of their farms in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Mowi’s Shaw Point farm in Johnstone Straight had the highest number: 20.94 sea lice motiles per fish reported on March 24. Data from fish farms around Vancouver Island show sea lice numbers exceeding Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s requirements of three per salmon at the start of this year’s juvenile salmon migration, sparking mitigation efforts by the farms.

Nootka sound fishing regulations