Fisheries Committee on May 3rd, 2010

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

We have five species of salmon in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the concern about sea lice is focused on pink and chum salmon. The reason for this is that when they hatch from gravel in the rivers, they go straight to the ocean as fry.

The other three species--sockeye, coho, and chinook--overwinter or spend at least one year, sometimes more, in fresh water. When they leave the freshwater systems and move to the ocean, they're substantially larger; therefore, we would consider them to be at lower risk of sea lice infestation than the pink and chum, which are very small when they first encounter the sea lice.

There are also anadromous forms of cutthroat trout and rainbow trout that move between fresh water and salt water, and they tend to be overlooked. No one is really studying—

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

So you're talking about steelhead and so on.

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

Yes, steelhead—

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

What about the Dolly Varden? They're anadromous as well.

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

Yes, that's true, and no one is looking at these species from a sea lice perspective.

You also asked about the persistence of Slice in the marine environment.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

You talked about the fact that it's toxic to all copepods and crustaceans, so my question is, how long does this stuff persist in the environment after it's applied?

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

Right here, I don't know how long the chemical remains viable in the marine environment; I'd have to look it up and get back to you with those numbers.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Okay.

If we do have time, Chair, just one—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

We're going to have another round.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Are we? Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Mr. Andrews, for three minutes, please.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Martin, for being here today.

I want to get back to what Mr. Allen was talking about. He was talking about the percentage and a 5% natural prevalence rate. You said that when they're going by the salmon farms, the prevalence rate was up to 95%, and you seemed to let that go a little bit when you said that it was up to 95%. Could you give us a little better idea of that particular percentage?

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

Well, it varies from year to year. In the worst years, when the infestations were the most intense, the prevalence of sea lice was up to 99% in some locations, with the number of lice per fish reaching 80, 90, or over 100 lice per juvenile salmon. Those numbers, obviously, are lethal.

In other years, when there were fewer farms that were active or where chemical treatment or other management actions reduced the number of lice on the farms, we saw more moderate levels of infestation: 30%, 40%, and 50% as well. It's variable from year to year.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

We've had officials here from the B.C. aquaculture department. They've gone into some of these salmon farms and have done their own statistical models on how much sea lice are on the salmon in the farms themselves.

Now we're talking about wild salmon. Can you do an analysis of what their statistics are saying about the sea lice that are on the salmon in the farms and at the same time what they're saying is on the wild salmon outside the farms? Is there a model you can use to show that what they are saying is factual or correct? And can it be correlated?

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

As part of this new coordinated area management plan, we're working on sharing the kind of data that comes from the farms and the data we collect in the field, to put them together to do exactly what you described.

I can tell you that in years when the sea lice infestations were very high, the numbers of the sea lice on the farms were about five, six, or seven motile lice per fish. From the perspective of farm husbandry, this would not be considered a problem for the health and well-being of the farmed fish.

However, those numbers correspond to a major problem for the health and well-being of the wild juvenile fish that are migrating by. The reason for this is that the number of fish in a farm is so high--between half a million and a million--and sometimes there are several farms on a migration route, so that the actual production of lice, even if it's only three or four per fish.... If you multiply that by two million or three million fish, that's a lot of lice in the environment.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

As far as the management plan goes, as it exists now, is it working? Can we have the coexistence of salmon farms and wild salmon and still protect wild salmon?

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

I can say that the new management plan, which uses fallowing and chemical treatment, has been effective at reducing lice numbers on farmed fish. It's been effective at reducing lice numbers on wild fish.

Based on the numbers we've seen, we would expect recovery of the wild salmon populations in these areas, but it's too early to say. This all depends on the long-term sustainability of the chemical treatment being effective.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you.

Monsieur Blais.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

I would like to raise two factors with you that we have perhaps not touched on until now: they would be pollution and marine traffic.

We understand very well that an ecosystem can be on a large or a small scale. And I understand that the Pacific Ocean, the area that the salmon occupy, its habitat, is big enough for several factors to be taken into account.

I was wondering if pollution in general is another factor that we should be paying attention to. Is shipping traffic, which is on the increase, I imagine in these areas... There are also invasive species. We may have all kinds of questions to ask ourselves. Do you have any solutions to propose as far as those factors are concerned? Or once again, has this already been studied in some way?

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

You want to know if they have been examined in connection with the general decline of salmon populations in British Columbia. As far as shipping traffic goes, I don't think so, not with regard to salmon, but people do look at shipping traffic for effects, particularly on killer whales and other cetaceans that hunt by sound. That can interfere with their communication with each other and locating prey.

Pollution can have a very large effect on ecosystem dynamics. It can change the productivity and ecology of the plankton, which has ramifications for everything above the plankton in an ecosystem. There are multiple sources of pollution, usually associated with industry and large human populations, but also with the waste material that comes from the salmon farms. That addition of nutrients to an ecosystem can change the dynamics of the plankton, which can have implications. But as far as I know, there is no detailed work looking at that.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

What about invasive species now?

[Dr. Martin Krkosek]

Invasive species are a major factor globally in the change in ecosystems. At the moment, I'm unaware of any invasive species in British Columbia that would be contributing to the decline of wild salmon populations. That's not to say there isn't one; I'm simply unaware of one.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you.

Mr. Donnelly.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have two questions.

I'm wondering if you can comment on the effect of the farm salmon density on sea lice infestations.

Secondly, a comment was made earlier to this committee to the effect that DFO scientists essentially agree that there is insufficient information to suggest that lice on farms are affecting Pacific salmon in a detrimental way. Can you comment on that?