Lice Makes Full Page News for MH

Marine Harvest have taken out the adverts in the North Island Gazette and Victoria Times-Colonist to inform the public of its efforts and success in minimising sea lice on its farmed fish in the Broughton Archipelago area. It is timed during the current out-migration of wild juvenile salmon and aims to put balance on claims being made by those opposed to aquaculture on sea lice risks posed by farms to wild fish stocks.

The advertising campaign, which can be found at www.marineharvestcanada, shows that four of its Broughton farms are now empty of fish. Six other farms show sea lice levels of no more than 0.2 lice per farmed fish, well under the provincial government’s threshold limit of 3 lice per fish at which time fish must be treated to eliminate the lice. The latest monitoring was completed in early March.

"These data have been available on our website since 2004. We monitor for sea lice levels diligently and we manage our operations closely to ensure that our fish do not add to the many other threats that young wild salmon face," said Clare Backman, Director of Environmental Compliance & Community Relations

This is the second ad that marine Harvest has used to update the public on its sea lice management plan since the out-migration began in March. It says that it is part of an on-going commitment to being open about its business and the technology it is using.