Fish Farms Harm Wild Salmon

Salmon farms along the Canadian coast are driving wild salmon toward extinction, according to a study published today in the journal Science. The study looked at the survival rates of wild pink salmon in British Columbia's Broughton Archipelago, where salmon farms have sprung up along the shoreline in recent years.

Earlier studies have found that the netted pens of salmon farms are breeding grounds for parasitic sea lice, and that these lice can infect and kill young wild salmon passing by the farms. However, today's study by fisheries ecologists at the University of Alberta and Dalhousie University is the first to show that sea lice are having population-wide impacts. If nothing is done, the scientists predict that 99 percent of the pink salmon will be gone within four years.

Sea lice attach themselves to the skin of fish and feed on their flesh. Adult fish can survive this onslaught but younger fish (such as the one pictured here) are more vulnerable because they are smaller and have thinner skin. Normally salmon encounter lice only in the open ocean where the adult fish live, but salmon farms have concentrated the lice near the rivers where wild salmon are born.

There are two possible solutions to the problem: Raise farmed salmon in self-contained pens, or move the existing pens away from the rivers and migratory routes used by young wild salmon. The fish farmers claim both options are too expensive. But losing an entire population of wild salmon would be even more costly.—Dawn Stover

Image: Alexandra Morton, Salmon Coast Field Station

Comments

[Syd]

Salmon

[jman542]

On the west coast we will suffer the same fate as the cod fisherman of the east. The fish need to be protected. Once they are gone, only the aquafarms with be left. Having worked for one before, trust me, they are not the environmental stewards they claim to be. I love to fish, and hope to be able to teach my children the joys of 'hooking the big one". The government really needs to stop listening to the special interest groups with this. I fish with a group of guys from Seattle each year. Why do they come north? because there is no fish south of the 49.

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I am thinking of buying a couple of fish, and I need different names so I can look them up online and see if they are cool enough for me. I want a red fish, a blue fish with black stripes.The fish must be freshwater, not need alot of care (Like a goldfish) and not be expensive.They can't be something that will die easily or something that is aggressive and eats other fish.

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Someone out there has got to know and have more experience with this than I do. I've looked all over the net and keep coming up with the same answer. Yeah, I know, Koi. We're kind of bored with the same old look though. We'd like to know what fish we can add to our fish/garden pond. Fish that can live outdoors and with Koi. Fish with color. Not plane old pond fish. Something with yellow would be great. Please Help!

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Salmon is the common name for several species of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, a distinction that holds true for the Salmo genus. And trout is much beneficial to eat.