Acronym PreventLice
Category
Aquaculture
Title Optimizing preventive lice strategy by combining behaviour, environment and technology Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Tina Oldham Coordinator email tina.oldham@hi.no
Coordinator institution
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA - Bremnes Seashore AS
(Norway) ,
NA - MOWI ASA (Norway) ,
NA - Nordlaks AS (Norway) ,
NA - Sinkaberg-Hansen AS (Norway) ,
Start year 2021 End year 2023 Funding (€) € 349,100 Website https://www.fhf.no/prosjekter/prosjektbasen/901685/ Summary None of the preventive measures against lice that are commercially available today work optimally under all conditions, but they work quite well under certain conditions. The key to developing a successful strategy for the prevention of lice will therefore be to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each of the measures and adopt them according to when they work best. The principle behind many of the preventive measures against lice (cages with shielding, submersible cages, semi-closed facilities as well as deep feeding and light) is to shield the salmon from the upper bodies of water. This is based on the idea that the infesting louse larvae are phototactic and will migrate upwards towards light and thus concentrate near the surface. More recent experiments, shows that the larvae's behavior is more complicated than previously thought. It was discovered that the louse larvae did not react particularly to changes in temperature, but showed clear preferences for salinity, which also overshadowed the influence of light. These findings suggest that it is time to rethink how preventive measures against lice should be used to improve the effect. Instead of just focusing on minimizing contact between salmon and the upper bodies of water, a more effective strategy would be specific to each location and chosen based on local environmental conditions. In places where large variations in salinity often occur, such as fjord locations with a continuous layer of brackish water, the strategy should be dynamic where the use of various measures is adjusted according to the actual environmental conditions. This means that when the salinity is high and equal throughout the water column, one should shield salmon from the surface water, while when there is a layer of brackish water present, one should avoid the salmon staying in the area around the halocline.
Goals:
1. To conduct a meta-analysis of all published data from trials that have used snorkel cages, louse skirts, submerged light and submerged feeding to estimate the effectiveness of these preventive measures under different environmental conditions.
2. To carry out continuous monitoring of local environmental conditions, lice infestation and production efficiency at 24 commercial locations equipped with various preventive measures distributed between southern, central and northern Norway throughout an entire production cycle in order to evaluate the preventive effect against lice, as well as consequences on production efficiency using snorkels, lice skirts and adjustable feeding and light.
3. To create a publicly accessible database that contains information on environmental conditions and lice charges throughout the year for each locality in Norway. By using historical data from high-resolution hydrodynamic and lice dispersal models, variations in current speed and direction, temperature, salinity and lice pressure both through time and vertically in the water column will be summarized for each locality in Norway.
4. To develop a digital tool to provide concrete, site-specific recommendations for the selection of preventative measures based on local environmental conditions.
Keywords
Cage aquaculture;
Parasite;
Salmon;
Fish;
Open sea aquaculture;
Marine Region
14
Skagerrak, Kattegat (27.IIIa)
41
Norwegian Sea (27.IIa)
2
Marine Region Map
