Sunday Times: "‘Clean fish’ bring danger of disease to salmon farms"

The Sunday Times reported (31 December 2017):

 

 

Read more via:

 

"Risk assessment of fish health associated with the use of cleaner fish in aquaculture" ('Opinion of the Panel on Animal Health and Welfare of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment, December 2017)

 

The report included:

 

 

 

In Norway, diseases in cleaner fish are becoming a big problem.   The Norwegian Veterinary Institute reported via The Health Situation in Norwegian Aquaculture in 2017:

 

 

 

An International Cleaner Fish Summit held in Glasgow in May 2017 featured a session on 'Health & Welfare' - including photos of disease-ridden cleaner-fish:

 

 

 

Presentations at the 'Health & Welfare' session included:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download the presentations in full online here

 

 

Scientific papers published by Scottish Government staff include:

 

Murray, A. G. 2017. A model of the process of spillover and adaption leading to potential emergence of disease in salmon held with cleaner fish used to control lice. Aquaculture 473:283-290.

 

Murray, A. G. 2016. A Modelling Framework for Assessing the Risk of Emerging Diseases Associated with the Use of Cleaner Fish to Control Parasitic Sea Lice on Salmon Farms. Transboundary And Emerging Diseases 63 (2):E270-E277.  

 

The latter paper included:

 

 

 

An EU report published in 2016 - Cleaner fish in aquaculture - EURL Fish - included:

 

[Note that the bacterium pasteurella skyensis infected sites operated by Marine Harvest in Loch Erisort killing 125,000 farmed salmon earlier this year]

 

 

 

A paper - "Aeromonas salmonicida infection levels in pre- and post-stocked cleaner fish assessed by culture and an amended qPCR assay" - published in the Journal of Fish Diseases in 2016 included:

 

"Culture indicated that systemic bacterial infections are mainly contracted after salmon farm stocking, and qPCR revealed A. salmonicida prevalences of approximately 4% and 68% in pre- and post-stocked cleaner fish, respectively. This underpins A. salmonicida's relevance as a contributing factor to cleaner fish mortality and emphasizes the need for implementation of preventive measures (e.g. vaccination) if current levels of cleaner fish use are to be continued or expanded."

 

 

A paper - "Use of lumpfish for sea-lice control in salmon farming: challenges and opportunities" - published in Reviews in aquaculture in 2017 included:

 

 

The Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2016 published in September 2017 by Marine Scotland Science included:

 

 

 

Shetland News reported in 2013: "Disease forces cull of 10,000 “cleaner” fish" - including:

 

 

The Fish Site reported in October 2016 via "AquacultureEurope: Best Practice for Preventing Cleaner Fish Disease Risk" - including:

 

 

Fish Farming Expert reported in June 2017:

 

 

 

Fish Farming Expert reported in April 2017:

 

 

 

Fish Farming Expert reported in February 2017:

 

 

 

Open Seas reported in October 2017:

 

 

And:

 

 

In 2012, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute started a project titled "Identification and characterization of bacterial diseases in cleaner fish (wrasse and lumpfish) for use in biological control of salmon lice":