Question Period Note: Sea Lice in Canada

Sea Lice in Canada

My department is committed to the conservation and protection of our wild salmon.

In British Columbia, the Department continues to put in place measures to ensure that sea lice from salmon farms present no more than a minimal risk to wild salmon. Changes to the 2020 conditions of licence reflect an adaptive approach to sea lice management in BC; as new scientific information becomes available, DFO reviews and acts on the information.

On the east coast, my department will continue to work collaboratively with provincial partners in the management of aquaculture and sea lice issues.

The extensive body of literature on sea lice is constantly evolving. DFO actively supports departmental and collaborative research and uses information to determine how to best manage sea lice.

• Sea lice are naturally occurring parasites that have lived in Canada’s coastal waters for thousands of years. While sea lice generally do not harm adult fish, they can harm small juvenile salmon as these 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.
• Over the last couple of decades, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) scientists have worked to build understanding and knowledge about sea lice, their relationship to the marine environment and fish, along with improved understanding of treatments and methods used to reduce their abundance on farmed fish, 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.
• One of the methods used to control sea lice is a Health Canada approved drug called SLICE. Due to increasing evidence that sea lice are becoming more resistant to this drug, there is a push for the use of alternative methods to manage sea lice, including mechanical, thermal, and other non-chemical treatments.
• The Department is currently reviewing the Aquaculture Activities Regulations to encourage innovation and to add to existing non-chemical options to treat sea lice.
• The Department requires sea lice management, treatment, and mitigation measures at farms when sea lice levels are high. In BC, 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). Any evidence of population-level harm resulting from salmon farms would prompt the immediate revision of aquaculture licences to ensure the conservation of wild salmon stocks.
• To further improve sea lice management and decrease risk to migrating wild salmon, in March 2020, changes were made to the licence conditions in BC. These changes enable a decrease in the likelihood of treatment resistance and a reduction of the amount of sea lice re-entering the marine environment after mechanical treatments, as well as provide enforceable conditions to respond to non-compliance.
• On the east coast, where the provinces are the lead regulators, information on sea lice management practices is not readily available to DFO as sea lice monitoring is provincially mandated. Each province regulates the industry differently and relies on individual companies to submit management plans, which are not made public.
• 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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