Salmon Endangered by Sea Lice

Pink salmon may be extinct in eight years due to sea lice infestations, a new study finds.

As if nobody saw this one coming....

From the NYT:

"Parasites that breed in fish farms kill so many passing juvenile wild salmon that they threaten the survival of fish populations in some rivers and streams, Canadian researchers are reporting. The researchers studied pink salmon in an area north of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. But they said their findings, and earlier studies of the effects of farm-borne parasites on wild salmon, were so damning that they challenged aspects of aquaculture generally. ...The researchers conceded that their calculations showed widely ranging death rates among young salmon from sea lice infestations, but said they were typically about 80 percent. At that rate, they calculated that some local populations would be effectively extinct in four salmon generations, about eight years."

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Posted at 04:34 PM | Permalink

Reader Comments:
Feb 27, 2008 04:05 pm
 Posted by  Anonymous

Its bad enough these fish already have to deal with so much in the rivers.Now they have to deal with lice in the mouth of these rivers.We need all the wild fish that are out there.We must protect the pink salmon.

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