Question Period Note: Sea Lice in British Columbia

• My department is committed to the conservation and protection of our wild Pacific salmon.
• The Department continues to put in place measures to ensure that sea lice from salmon farms present no more than a minimal impact on wild salmon.
• Last spring, in consultation with our partners, my department revised the licences of marine aquaculture finfish operators in British Columbia to increase the enforceability of licence conditions pertaining to the management of sea lice.
• As new information becomes available, my department remains open to reviewing and incorporating the information as part of its adaptive management process.

If pressed:
• The Department has been conducting research on sea lice and its interactions with farmed and wild salmon for many years. In addition, there is an extensive body of science knowledge and research on sea lice that has been, and is currently being, conducted by many researchers internationally.
• This body of science has been used to develop the Department’s science advice, which informs the Department’s management decisions.

• On June 25, 2020, via press release, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) in British Columbia (BC) called for an end to open-net pen salmon farming in BC.
• FNLC states that reports published by Mowi, Cermaq, and Grieg indicate 37 per cent of salmon farms across all regions in BC exceeded Government-mandated sea lice limits.
• Further, the FNLC also refer to a recent independent study, in which 94 per cent of sampled juvenile wild salmon migrating through the Discovery Islands were infected with sea lice.
• The FNLC assert that open-net pen salmon farming is one of the main contributors to the massive decline in wild salmon stocks in BC and are calling for the end of salmon farming in the open ocean—via a collaborative, cooperative transition to land-based containment, with First Nations leading—to protect both wild salmon and Indigenous ways of being from extinction.
• Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation in Nootka Sound is asserting that sea lice treatments (hydrogen peroxide bath) by Grieg Seafood Aquaculture in the area has failed, and will wipe out this year’s cohort of chum salmon.
• However, sea lice in BC during the 2020 outmigration have been generally well controlled, with no facilities violating licence conditions.
• Two areas, Nootka Sound and Clayoquot Sound North, have had recurring over threshold events, but have been able to mitigate and return below threshold in the time allotted in the licence.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) does not have the authority to order fish destruction on farms. However, it does accept harvest as a management action for sea lice reduction if it occurs within the allowable timeframe for exceedance (42 days).
• Targeted audits have occurred in both of those regions in June 2020 to verify industry reported data and have not found any non-compliance.
• DFO’s veterinarians and biologists routinely monitor and analyze all incoming sea lice reports from industry, including sea lice numbers and management actions.
• In June 2019, former Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced that DFO would take action to improve aquaculture farms’ compliance with sea lice management regulatory requirements in BC. Following this, DFO consulted with First Nations, non-government environmental groups, industry, and stakeholders who contributed ideas toward improving sea lice licence conditions, such as through the Fish Health Technical Working Group (under the Indigenous and Multi-stakeholder Advisory Body).
• On February 28, 2020, DFO issued updated licences to marine aquaculture finfish operators in BC. These updates were made to increase enforceability of licence conditions for the purpose of addressing wild fish conservation.
• Further consultation and science advice is being sought to inform additional changes that will be incorporated during the 2022 licensing renewal process.
• DFO remains committed to working closely with First Nations, the Province of BC, and key partners to further develop areas such as farm-level/area based thresholds, additional mandatory fallowing, and wild fish monitoring for 2022 licences.
• Sea lice are naturally occurring parasites that have lived in BC’s coastal waters for thousands of years. While sea lice generally do not harm adult fish, they can harm small juvenile salmon, particularly Pink and chum, as they can emerge from river systems when they are quite small and without complete scale development for protection.
• Farmed fish are free of sea lice when they enter the ocean but can pick them up in the marine environment. If not properly managed, sea lice levels will become elevated and wild juvenile salmon can be exposed to higher than natural levels during the spring out-migration period.
• The Department requires sea lice management, treatment, and mitigation measures at farms when sea lice levels are high. These measures have been very effective; most years, more than 90 per cent of sites are below the regulatory thresholds for sea lice during the outmigration period (March 1 to June 30).
• DFO scientists work diligently to build understanding and knowledge about sea lice, their relationship to the marine environment and fish, and the treatments and methods used to reduce their abundance near wild and farmed species, to inform improvements in management measures.
• The extensive body of literature on sea lice is constantly evolving. The Department’s overall management of sea lice and fish health on farms is adaptive and revised as new evidence emerges. Any evidence of population-level harm resulting from salmon farms would prompt the immediate revision, and potential suspension, of aquaculture licences to ensure the conservation of wild salmon stocks.
• In the Pacific Region, DFO has conducted research on sea lice, with emphasis on spatial and temporal variations of sea lice infections on juvenile wild salmon in various coastal zones.
• The Department also assesses sea lice on wild juvenile salmon and is currently conducting this work in Esperanza Inlet near active fish farms; results of this work will be available to the public once finalized.
• DFO continues to fund research on alternative methods for the treatment of sea lice and on natural genetic resistance to sea lice infections.

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