In British Columbia and Washington, legislators are simultaneously weighing whether to allow this controversial farming practice to persist. This year could see the end of open-net-pen salmon aquaculture on the US and Canadian west coasts. This approach to salmon farming is already banned in California, Oregon, and Alaska, leaving British Columbia and Washington State as […]
salmon
Scientists Are Running Out of Salmon to Study
With west coast salmon populations withering, these researchers are heading for the Great Lakes. For years, Steven Cooke, a biologist at Carleton University in Ottawa, has been traveling to British Columbia to research Pacific salmon migrations. But on the west coast, salmon populations are in dire straits. Several of the populations Cooke studies, including those […]
How Might Fish Farms Be Affecting Lobsters?
Open-net pen Atlantic salmon aquaculture is big business on Canada’s east coast. Given the industry’s size, much has been studied and written about its effects on wild salmon. But how might fish farms be affecting other species in their vicinity—such as lobster? Lobster is one of the most economically valuable wild species, and the bulk […]
How Aquaculture Is Spreading a Salmon Virus
A genetic analysis of Piscine orthoreovirus shows how it was repeatedly transported from Norwegian salmon farms to aquaculture operations around the world—and on to wild Pacific salmon. Farmed salmon, like any farmed animals that live in close quarters, are highly vulnerable to infectious diseases. On Atlantic salmon farms in the Pacific Ocean, one virus—Piscine orthoreovirus […]
Overlooked Sea Louse May Be a Big Problem for Salmon
Most scientific research has focused on one species of sea louse—failing to account for the other, far more common, species. Sea lice attach to the skin of fish, and feed on their mucus, tissues, and blood. These parasites are one of the major threats to both wild and farmed salmon. To date, however, most research […]
Considering the Nuclear Option in Controlling Invasive Species
Rotenone: when you absolutely, positively have to kill every last fish in the lake. How far would you go to get rid of an invasive species? In New Brunswick, conservation groups and local First Nations want to kill all of the fish in Miramichi Lake using a pesticide called rotenone. They want to reset the […]
Hatchery Fish Are Less Successful at Reproducing in the Wild
Genetic experiments show hatchery escapees that breed with wild fish have fewer offspring. Every spring, hatcheries in Alaska release more than a billion year-old pink and chum salmon. The fish spend a year out at sea growing up, before they return to be caught by the state’s fishing fleet. At least, that’s how it’s supposed […]
Aquaculture Doesn’t Reduce Pressure on Wild Fish
If anything, the rise of farm-raised fish has increased our desire for seafood. Aquaculture is often promoted as a sustainable alternative to catching wild fish—a way to reduce pressure on overexploited stocks while providing affordable and necessary protein for people’s diets. It’s an argument put forward by major international organizations like the World Bank and […]
Near Fish Farms, Lobster Catches Plummet
Lobster fishers catch fewer market-sized lobsters, and see fewer fertile females, in areas close to fish farms in Nova Scotia, according to new research led by Inka Milewski, a research associate at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Lobster fishers working in Port Mouton Bay, Nova Scotia, keep detailed records of when and where they fish and how many […]
Unmasking a Salmon Virus
The previously unknown cause of a common chinook salmon disease has turned out to be a familiar foe. A common virus that plagues Atlantic salmon in fish farms around the world also causes disease in farmed Pacific chinook salmon, a new finding that reignites the debate about infectious disease migrating from farmed fish to wild […]