Study Suggests Farmed Salmon May Not Harm Wild Salmon

One of the major reasons environmental groups have opposed ocean-based salmon farming may not in fact be an issue, a group of scientists have published in a new paper.

The paper, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that infestation with a water-borne parasite called sea lice caught from farmed salmon in pens isn't the cause of declines in wild salmon populations that migrate past the fish farms.

Salmon hatch in freshwater streams then swim out to the ocean to mature before returning to their native streams again to spawn.

Farmed salmon have high rates of infestation with sea lice, or ectoparasitic copepods.

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