Major study links wild salmon mortality to salmon aquaculture

The study, titled Impact of parasites on salmon recruitment in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean’ used groups of tagged fish, 1 group treated with parasiticides and another group without to investigate the effects of parasites on survival. 

The results provide experimental evidence that parasites, even in a large marine ecosystem, can have large impacts on fish recruitment, fisheries and conservation.

As the crustaceans were probably acquired during early marine migration in areas that host large aquaculture populations of domesticated salmon, which elevate local abundances of parasites; there is strong reason to believe that cage salmon aquaculture is affecting the mortality of wild salmon populations. The authors concluded that parasites may account for between 18 to 55% of adult salmon in the Northeast Atlantic.

The full abstract can be seen at the following link; click here.