Sea Pact funding support to the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences Society: An Examination of Kelp Perch and Pile Perch to Control Sea Lice Infections in Farmed Atlantic Salmon in British Columbia.
​Sea lice infections of farmed Atlantic salmon are a major issue. Current approaches to controlling sea lice infection rely heavily on chemical treatments. Wrasse and lumpfish are being used in Norway to delouse farmed Atlantic salmon, with significant reductions in sea lice infections and less reliance upon chemicals. These fish species are not native to British Columbias waters, however, and reports in the literature and results from a preliminary study performed at the Vancouver Aquarium indicate that kelp and pile perch have potential to be used as biological controls for sea lice in BC farmed Atlantic Salmon. The proposed research will determine the effectiveness of these perch in delousing infected salmon. Results from this project will subsequently be applied to the design and development of field trials, whereby perch will be placed in net pens with farmed Atlantic salmon to further examine the use of perch as a native biological controls for sea lice in BC, helping to develop an environmentally-friendly, sustainable alternative to chemical control of sea lice, and reduce the potential impacts of net pen farmed salmon on wild stocks.

The Impacts of this project:
Developing a sustainable alternative to chemical control of sea lice, and reducing the potential impacts of net pen farmed salmon on wild stocks.

The overall goal of this project is to develop an environmentally responsible and sustainable method to control sea lice in farmed Atlantic salmon. Cleaner fish are being used successfully to reduce sea lice infections and reliance on chemical treatments, in other salmon farming countries. In the last year, our research team has been investigating the feasibility of using kelp and pile perch as cleaner fish. We have conducted 7 separate trials that involved the cohabitation of kelp or pile perch with sea lice infected Atlantic salmon. We have clear evidence that both perch species are effective at cleaning sea lice off the salmon and have tremendous potential to be used as cleaner fish in BC.

This project will be monitored by having regular meetings to update all the collaborators on the progress of the research, and will like include the formation of a stakeholder oversight committee when the project nears completion and the perch are deployed on commercial salmon farms. There has been regular communication this last past year amongst all the collaborators and stakeholders involved in this project and that communication will become increasingly important as this research starts to evolve and transition from the research laboratory to field studies. It is vital to this project that trials and experimental designs provide practical results that will support the implementation of a new and sustainable method to control sea lice infections in BC farmed salmon. The impact of this research will ultimately be recognized and measured when this research leads to the successfully use of cleaner fish on salmon farms in BC.