Two Canadian organisations have criticised a study that claims that sea lice from infected fish farms are responsible for the deaths of up to 95% of young wild salmon migrating out to sea.
According to Positive Aquaculture Awareness (PAA), an organisation representing aquaculture workers and their families, the study was funded by opponents of the fish farming industry and is highly questionable.
“It's the usual suspects just repackaging two year old data and a flawed methodology and falsely presenting it as something new”, said Ian Roberts, President of the PAA. He goes on to say that “both types of datasets used in the study are totally flawed”.
“The first uses anti-fish farm activist Alexandra Morton's dip net methodology for sampling fish which erroneously selects for already sick and dying fish that float to the surface.”
“The second dataset uses lice-infested juvenile salmon raised in ocean enclosures even though the problems with using such a technique is widely known”, said Roberts.
The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) says that the validity of the data has been the subject of debate since it was released over a year ago. David Rideout, Executive Director of the CAIA said, “The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance supports all research that contributes to a better understanding of sea lice issues. However, this study does not provide the scientific community, the industry or the public with any new information.”
