Skirts on salmon production cages reduced salmon lice infestations without affecting fish welfare
| Autor: | Tore Seternes, Lars Helge Stien, Daniel William Wright, Frode Oppedal, Mattias Bendiksen Lind |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Preventive strategy Louse infestation media_common.quotation_subject 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences Aquatic Science Biology medicine.disease_cause 03 medical and health sciences 030104 developmental biology Animal science parasitic diseases Infestation 040102 fisheries medicine 0401 agriculture forestry and fisheries Fish Salmon aquaculture Cage Oxygen saturation Welfare media_common |
| Zdroj: | Aquaculture. 490:281-287 |
| ISSN: | 0044-8486 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2018.02.045 |
| Popis: | Blocking infective salmon lice larvae, that typically aggregate near the surface, from entering sea cages has become a widely-adopted preventive strategy in salmon aquaculture. The most prevalent shielding technique is fitting a skirt around the upper part of the cage. However, limited scientific data is available on the effects skirts have on lice levels, water quality and fish welfare. The present study compares lice infestation levels on farmed Atlantic salmon, oxygen saturation levels and fish welfare scores between cages with and without 10 m deep skirts from May to September at a commercial farm. The effectiveness of skirts at reducing lice infestations varied during the observation period, but at the last sampling 80% less lice were found on the fish in skirt cages compared to in standard cages. From early July and onwards, oxygen levels inside the skirts were reduced by 5 to 35 percentage points saturation compared to standard cages. However, the lowest oxygen value registered was still above 70% oxygen saturation. No differences in fish welfare scores and mortality between treatments were observed. Under the presented conditions, we therefore conclude that the skirts effectively reduced lice levels while preserving oxygen levels and fish welfare. More studies are, however, needed to reveal how the effects from skirts change with season and site. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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