Countdown for 79 salmon farms: new report says sea lice have developed resistance to SLICE

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On Monday a new study confirmed what environmentalists have been saying for years, sea lice have developed a resistance to SLICE the treatment fish farms most often use against them.

“in many ways, this paper mark's a new era. First Nations are very keen to manage their territories. One of the extraordinary things about this paper is two First Nation Chiefs are co-authors,” explained independent biologist Alexandra Morton. “They didn't write the science, but they made it possible for this science to occur, which is one of the measures of whether you can be an author of a scientific paper.”

The scientists who worked on 'Salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean show evidence of evolved resistance to parasiticide treatment’ said this paper would not have been possible were it not for the Namgis, Mamalilikulla and Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis Nations. This is the first time have been given access to raw bioassay data and it was only possible because
First Nations were given a monitoring and management role over fish farms operating in the Brought Archipelago.

“In a province with a long history of industrial exploitation of resources in Indigenous territories, these agreements and their outcomes represent a compelling example of Indigenous self-governance that may become more prevalent as First Nations endeavour to gain more control over industrial operations in their traditional territories,” wrote one of the authors.

Brian Kingzett, Science and Policy Director for the BC Salmon Farmers Association, emailed, “Despite activists trying to paint this as a conspiracy the information has never not been confidential and has been reviewed and discussed with regulators for a long time.”

In the recent BC Salmon Farmers report about sea lice monitoring in the Discovery Islands, Kingzett claimed, “Five years of sea lice monitoring has demonstrated that sea lice levels have been low with most out-migrating salmon not infected by sea lice. Additionally, we did not see sea lice levels change after decreased production of salmon farming in the region.”

Morton said, “Wild salmon in the Broughton Archipelago have been in a population nose dive since salmon farming moved in and we all know why. Yes, climate change is catastrophic but these little fish are not making it to sea. They are covered with sea lice and we also now know they have been infected.”

“These nations in the Broughton have hired some of the best scientists: pathologists, sea lice researchers.”