- Title: Norway scientists tackle sea lice blight on fish farming
- Date: 9th November 2018
- Summary: BERGEN, NORWAY (RECENT) (REUTERS) PROFESSOR FRANK NILSEN FROM THE SEA LICE RESEARCH CENTRE REMOVING COVER FROM TANK WITH SALMON INSIDE UNDERWATER SHOT OF SALMON IN TANK WIDE OF SMALLER TANK ON SHELF WITH ONE OR TWO SALMON INSIDE / NILSEN LOOKS AT FISH VARIOUS OF SEA LICE ATTACHED TO SALMON IN TANK (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR FRANK NILSEN, SEA LICE RESEARCH CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN, SAYING: "They are feeding on the surface of the fish, eating skin, mucus and blood to produce new offspring." VARIOUS OF NILSEN LOOKING AT INFECTED SALMON IN TANK (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR FRANK NILSEN, SEA LICE RESEARCH CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN, SAYING: "The females are releasing a thousand larvae every week. And when the louse can live for one-and-a-half years, one single female louse can produce a lot of offspring." CLOSE OF NILSEN LOOKING THROUGH MICROSCOPE WIDE OF NILSEN LOOKING THROUGH MICROSCOPE SEA LICE IN PETRI DISH UNDER MICROSCOPE SEA LICE SEEN THROUGH MICROSCOPE VARIOUS OF NILSEN LOOKING AT SEA LICE THROUGH MICROSCOPE VIEW THROUGH MICROSCOPE OF A NUMBER OF SEA LICE LARVAE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR FRANK NILSEN, SEA LICE RESEARCH CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN, SAYING: "Currently, sea lice is one of the main restricting factors for growth of Atlantic salmon farming in Norway in certain areas, which of course is costly for the industry itself." WIDE OF FISH FARMING CAGE / PAN DOWN TO UNDERWATER SHOT OF TROUT IN CAGE VARIOUS OF FISH FARMING CAGES ON FJORD MORE OF TROUT UNDERWATER (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR FRANK NILSEN, SEA LICE RESEARCH CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN, SAYING: "A big farmed fish can handle maybe 50 to 100 lice, but the wild small fish are very, in a way, vulnerable to lice, they can only handle a few. And we need to make sure that the infectious pressure is fairly low during this period." PAN FROM ON BOARD BOAT TO FISH FARM CAGES IN FJORD MORE OF FISH FARMS ON FJORD NILSEN MOVING NET OVER TANK AND CAMERA MOVING UNDERWATER TO WHERE SALMON ARE SWIMMING VARIOUS OF NILSEN LOOKING AT SALMON (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR FRANK NILSEN, SEA LICE RESEARCH CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN, SAYING: "Lice biology is a key to all these areas to try to find a weak - Achilles Heel - of the lice, and try to attack that by either a vaccine or medicine or even improving the genetics of the host." VARIOUS OF NILSEN LOOKING AT VIALS WHERE SEA LICE LARVAE ARE GROWING FOR EXPERIMENTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR FRANK NILSEN, SEA LICE RESEARCH CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN, SAYING: "Gene editing is a new emerging tool, maybe that could be the answer. But before you can get there you need to really know exactly what small thing could you change and achieve a big impact." NILSEN NEXT TO TANK / CAMERA MOVES UNDERWATER TO WHERE SALMON ARE SWIMMING
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2018 10:46
- Keywords: Sea Lice Research Centre University of Bergen sea lice aquaculture fish farming
- Location: BERGEN, NORWAY
- City: BERGEN, NORWAY
- Country: Norway
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA00195SBAZF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Norway has built the world's biggest salmon-farming industry. But it wants to get bigger. With their lucrative oil fields now in decline, Norwegians have ambitious plans for aquaculture to power their economy far into the future.
But there's one major fly in the ointment...lice.
Sea lice levels have risen in Norway in the second half of this year, leading to earlier harvesting, lower weight of fish and higher mortality rate. Also a problem in other countries, lice tend to concentrate in the more stagnant waters of Norway's bays and fjords where fish farms are now based.
Researchers from Sea Lice Research Centre at the University of Bergen are looking for ways to combat the sea lice parasites that thrive in salmon cages.
"Sea lice is one of the main restricting factors for growth of Atlantic salmon farming in Norway in certain areas, which of course is costly for the industry itself," said Professor Frank Nilsen.
One in five salmon farmed in Norway dies before reaching maturity, partly due to tiny blood-sucking lice that latch onto the outside of the pink fish.
"They are feeding on the surface of the fish - eating skin, mucus and blood to produce new offspring," explained Nilsen.
"The females release about a thousand larvae every week. When the louse can live for one-and-a-half years, one single female louse can produce a lot of offspring."
The prevalence of sea lice at Norwegian salmon and trout farming sites also threatens wild salmon, with regular ocean storms ripping cages and free thousands of potentially infected fish.
A big farmed fish can handle maybe 50 to 100 lice, said Nilsen, but the smaller wild fish can only withstand about 10 before dying.
At the Sea Lice Research Centre, they want to understand sea lice biology at the molecular level. This could help the development of new drugs like sea lice vaccines and new tools for resistance monitoring
Nilsen said: "Lice biology is a key to all these areas to try to find an Achilles Heel of the lice... Gene editing is a new emerging tool, maybe that could be the answer. But before you can get there you need to really know exactly what small thing could you change and achieve a big impact."
According to the researchers, using the salmon louse genome sequence they could identify molecular markers for drug resistance and potentially prolong the life time for valuable anti-sea lice drugs.
Norway produced 1.1 million tonnes - or 54 percent - of all farmed Atlantic salmon in 2016, more than double the output of number two producer Chile, and earned $7.6 billion in exports. Smaller producers include Britain, the Faroe Islands and Canada. Nilsen hopes the research they're conducting in Bergen could eventually help all salmon-producing countries defeat sea lice and other parasites. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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