ST. ANDREWS, New Brunswick (AP) – Salmon have a lousy problem, and the race to solve it is spanning the globe.
A surge of parasitic sea lice is disrupting salmon farms around the world. The lice attach themselves to salmon and feed on them, rendering them useless as a food fish.
The lice are a problem on salmon farms in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway and Chile. Scientists and fish farmers are working on new ways to control the lice, although so far it has been an uphill struggle.
FILE – In this Oct. 11, 2008 file photo, an Atlantic salmon leaps in a Cooke Aquaculture farm pen near Eastport, Maine. A surge of parasitic sea lice is disrupting salmon farms around the world, infesting salmon farms in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway and Chile. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Solutions include bathing the salmon in warm water to remove the lice and zapping the fish with underwater lasers.
Some farmers say the lice are the biggest problem facing farmed salmon. Salmon are among the world’s most valuable farmed fish.
This undated photo provided by Cooke Aquaculture shows a sea lice with an extruding attached. The tiny lice attach themselves to salmon and feed on them, killing or rendering them unsuitable for dinner tables. (Dr. Shawn Robinson/Cooke Aquaculture via AP)
This undated photo provided by Cooke Aquaculture shows a sea lice in its early stages. The lice can grow to be about the size of a pea and lay thousands of eggs in their brief lifetime. (AP Photo/Dr. Shawn Robinson via Cooke Aquaculture)
In this Thursday, July 13, 2017 photo, Atlantic salmon brood stock circle a tank at Oak Bay Fish Hatchery in Oak Haven, New Brunswick. Scientists are working to defeat sea lice using numerous methods including the breeding for genetic resistance. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
In this Thursday, July 13, 2017 photo, an Atlantic salmon jumps in a Cooke Aquaculture farm cage near Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada. A surge of parasitic sea lice is disrupting salmon farms around the world, infesting salmon farms in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway and Chile. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
In this Thursday, July 13, 2017 photo, workers position their boats at a Cooke Aquaculture salmon farm near Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada. A surge of parasitic sea lice is disrupting salmon farms around the world, infesting salmon farms in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway and Chile. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
In this Thursday, July 13, 2017 photo, workers gather Atlantic salmon before putting them into a tank aboard a ship for a treatment with hydrogen peroxide at a Cooke Aquaculture salmon farm near Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick., Canada. Salmon have a lousy problem, and a race to solve is spanning the globe. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
In this Thursday, July 13, 2017 photo, workers confer aboard aboard a warm water lice removal vessel on Beaver Harbour in New Brunswick, Canada. The barge contains a series of tubes that send about 300 salmon a minute on a winding journey while dousing them with warm water to remove lice. The “waterslide park for fish” is one of the innovations being tested in the salmon farming industry’s war against sea lice. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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