Evaluating the effect of synchronized sea lice treatments in Chile

Predicting the abundance of Lepeophtheirus salmonis in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective was to construct a time series model for the abundance of the adult female (AF) sea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis in Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar farms in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada, for the period 2016-2021 and to illustrate its short-term predictive capabilities.

METHODS

Sea lice are routinely counted for monitoring purposes, and these data are recorded in the Fish-iTrends database. A multivariable autoregressive linear mixed-effects model (second-order autoregressive structure) was generated with the outcome of the abundance of AF sea lice and included treatments, infestation pressures (a measure that represents the dose of exposure of sea louse parasitic stages to potential fish hosts) within sites (internal) and among sites (external), and other predictors. The treatments were categorized by duration and type.

RESULT

The effect of mechanical treatments decreased with increasing sea surface temperature. In-sample predictions had good accuracy. A one-standard-deviation increase in the external infestation pressures (EIPAF) produced a significant relative increase in the abundance of AF sea lice by 5% when other model predictors were kept constant. Sites separated by short seaway distances had stronger EIPAF than sites with more considerable distances.

CONCLUSION

This model may be helpful for managers and farmers in implementing sea lice mitigation strategies on salmon farms in the Bay of Fundy.

Transcriptome profiling of the early developmental stages in the giant mussel Choromytilus chorus exposed to delousing drugs

The giant mussel Choromytilus chorus is a marine bivalve commonly collected in central - southern Chile from fishery zones shared with the salmon industry. These economically relevant areas are also affected by the use of pesticides for controlling sea lice infestations in salmon aquaculture. Their main target is the sea louse Caligus rogercresseyi. However, other than some physiological impacts, the molecular effects of delousing drugs in non-target species such as C. chorus remain largely understudied. This study aimed to explore the transcriptome modulation of Trochophore and D larvae stages of C. chorus after exposure to azamethiphos and deltamethrin drugs. Herein, RNA-seq analyses and mRNA-lncRNAs molecular interactions were obtained. The most significant changes were found between different larval development stages exposed to delousing drugs. Notably, significant transcriptional variations were correlated with the drug concentrations tested. The biological processes involved in the development, such as cell movement and transcriptional activity, were mainly affected. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were also identified in this species, and the transcription activity showed similar patterns with coding mRNAs. Most of the significantly expressed lncRNAs were associated with genes annotated to matrix metalloproteinases, collagenases, and transcription factors. This study suggests that exposure to azamethiphos or deltamethrin drugs can modulate the transcriptome signatures related to the early development of the giant mussel C. chorus.

Simulated effects of increasing salmonid production on sea lice populations in Norway

Norway produces more than one million tonnes of salmonids every year, almost exclusively in open-water net pens. In 2014, the Norwegian government announced plans to increase salmonid production. However, increasing the number of farmed salmonids can have negative effects on the marine environment that threaten the industry's sustainability. In particular, production growth can lead to an increase in density-dependent diseases, including parasitic sea lice. The aim of this study was to simulate the effects of increased salmonid production on sea lice abundance using different scenarios for increasing the number of fish and for the management of sea lice. We used a previously developed, partly stage-structured model based on Norwegian production and environmental data to simulate the different scenarios. Our results show that increasing the marine farmed salmonid population at a national level by two or five times the current production leads to an increase in the sea lice abundance by 3.5% and 7.1%, respectively. We also found that by lowering the maximum allowable level of sea lice to an average of 0.049 adult females per fish, weekly treatments can be used to control sea lice population growth with a five times increase in production. However, this increases the number of farms treating per week by as much as 281.3%, which can lead to high costs and increased mortality among farmed salmonids. Overall, the results from our study shed light on the effects of increasing salmonid production in Norway with respect to the ongoing threat of sea lice infestations.

Chilean aquaculture and the new challenges: Pathogens, immune response, vaccination and fish diversification

In Chile, the salmon and trout farmed fishing industries have rapidly grown during the last years, becoming one of the most important economic sources for the country. However, infectious diseases caused by bacteria, virus, mycoses and parasites, result in losses of up to 700 million dollars per year for the Chilean aquaculture production with the consequent increase of antibiotic and antiparasitic usage. After 30 years of its first appearance, the main salmon health problem is still the salmonid rickettsial septicaemia (SRS), which together with other disease outbreaks, reveal that vaccines do not provide acceptable levels of long-lasting immune protection in the field. On the other hand, due to the large dependence of the industry on salmonids production, the Chilean government promoted the Aquaculture diversification program by 2009, which includes new species such as Merluccius australis, Cilus gilberti and Genypterus chilensis, however, specific research regarding the immune system and vaccine development are issues that still need to be addressed and must be considered as important as the farm production technologies for new fish species. Based on the experience acquired from the salmonid fish farming, should be mandatory an effort to study the immune system of the new species to develop knowledge for vaccination approaches, aiming to protect these aquaculture species before diseases outbreaks may occur. This review focuses on the current status of the Chilean aquaculture industry, the challenges related to emerging and re-emerging microbial pathogens on salmonid fish farming, and the resulting needs in the development of immune protection by rational designed vaccines. We also discussed about what we have learn from 25 years of salmonid researches and what can be applied to the new Chilean farmed species on immunology and vaccinology.

Sea lice exposure to non-lethal levels of emamectin benzoate after treatments: a potential risk factor for drug resistance

The avermectin derivative emamectin benzoate (EMB) has been widely used by salmon industries around the world to control sea lice infestations. Resistance to this anti-parasitic drug is also commonly reported in these industries. The objective of this study was to quantify the number of sea lice potentially exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of EMB while fish clear the drug after treatments. We assessed juvenile sea lice abundance after 38 EMB treatments on six Atlantic salmon farms, in a small archipelago in British Colombia, Canada, between 2007 and 2018. We fitted a standard EMB pharmacokinetic curve to determine the time when fish treated with this product would have EMB tissue concentrations below the recommended target therapeutic level. During the study, we estimated that for each sea lice treatment there was, on average, an abundance of 0.12 juvenile sea lice per fish during the time period when the concentrations of EMB would have been lower than 60ppb, the recommended therapeutic treatment level for sea lice. The findings from this study on metaphylactic anti-parasitic treatments identify a potential driver for drug resistance in sea lice that should be further explored.

Cumulative impact of anti-sea lice treatment (azamethiphos) on health status of Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum 1792) in aquaculture

Despite its widespread use in aquaculture, the impact of chemical anti-sea lice treatment on salmonids following application in a commercial farm has not been previously reported. This work reports the cumulative effect of three consecutive anti-sea lice treatments using azamethiphos on the health status of aquaculture reared rainbow trout through the investigation of clinical chemistry, histopathology and proteome expression. The serum biomarkers showed decreasing trends in total protein, albumin and potassium concentrations and an average increase of total bilirubin and phosphate concentration towards the end of the treatment period. Principal component analysis clearly distinguished correlated pairs of biomarkers and also demonstrates a shift from acute to chronic effects as treatment progresses. Proteomic analysis confirmed alterations of proteins involved in clot formation, immune reaction and free heme binding. Tissue damage after the series of delousing treatments, exhibited increased deposits of hemosiderin. Results from this study suggest an impact of azamethiphos on trout health through intravascular haemolysis and consequently from pathophysiologic process of haemoglobin metabolism and its products, causing chronic kidney injury from iron deposits. This is the first report to demonstrate in fish the impact of active iron accumulation in different organs from physiological processes that can seriously impair normal function.

Effects of pharmaceuticals used to treat salmon lice on non-target species: Evidence from a systematic review

Aquaculture is currently one of the best prospects to help meet the growing need for protein in the human diet. However, aquaculture development and production result in consequences for the environment and also impact other productive activities. Salmon and trout cage culture has required the use of large quantities of pharmaceuticals in order to control outbreaks and the persistence of different pathogens, including sea lice (parasitic copepods), which cause economic losses of around 0.39 € Kg^-1 of salmon produced. The pharmaceuticals currently used for the control of sea lice (cypermethrin, deltamethrin, azamethiphos, hydrogen peroxide) are applied by in situ immersion treatments, enclosing net pens using tarpaulin and then bathing fish with the pharmaceutical. After treatment the pharmaceuticals are released into the surrounding environment, exposing non-target species. Although the effects of such pharmaceutical exposure has been studied in some species, to date a systematic and exhaustive review of these potential effects has not yet been performed. In this study, an exhaustive review of the literature evaluating lethal and sub-lethal effects of anti-sea lice pharmaceuticals on non-target crustaceans and bivalves was performed, in order to assess the extent of the effects, toxicity, variables affecting such toxicity and identify potential synergistic effects previously unexplored. Our results show clear negative effects at concentrations lower than those used in treatments against sea lice in all of the species studied. Likewise, this study demonstrates knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in order to improve our understanding of the effects of these pharmaceuticals on non-target species, ecosystems in general and other productive activities.

Identifying 'firebreaks' to fragment dispersal networks of a marine parasite

Marine ecosystems are beset by disease outbreaks, and efficient strategies to control dispersal of pathogens are scarce. We tested whether introducing no-farming areas or 'firebreaks' could disconnect dispersal networks of a parasitic disease affecting the world's largest marine fish farming industry (∼1000 farms). Larval salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) are released from and transported among salmon farms by ocean currents, creating inter-farm networks of louse dispersal. We used a state-of-the-art biophysical model to predict louse movement along the Norwegian coastline and network analysis to identify firebreaks to dispersal. At least one firebreak that fragmented the network into two large unconnected groups of farms was identified for all seasons. During spring, when wild salmon migrate out into the ocean, and louse levels per fish at farms must be minimised, two effective firebreaks were created by removing 13 and 21 farms (1.3% and 2.2% of all farms in the system) at ∼61°N and 67°N, respectively. We have demonstrated that dispersal models coupled with network analysis can identify no-farming zones that fragment dispersal networks. Reduced dispersal pathways should lower infection pressure at farms, slow the evolution of resistance to parasite control measures, and alleviate infection pressure on wild salmon populations.

Tool for predicting Caligus rogercresseyi abundance on salt water salmon farms in Chile

Caligus rogercresseyi is a host-dependent parasite that affects rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon in Chile. Numbers of sea lice on fish increase over time at relatively predictable rates when the environment is conducive to the parasite's survival and fish are not undergoing treatment. We developed a tool for the salmon industry in Chile that predicts the abundance of adult sea lice over time on farms that are relatively isolated. We used data on sea louse abundance collected through the SalmonChile INTESAL sea lice monitoring program to create series of weekly lice counts between lice treatment events on isolated farms. We defined isolated farms as those with no known neighbors within a 10 km seaway distance and no more than two neighbors within a 20 km seaway distance. We defined the time between sea lice treatments as starting the week immediately post treatment and ending the week before a subsequent treatment. Our final dataset of isolated farms consisted of 65 series from 32 farms, between 2009 and 2015. Given an observed abundance at time t = 0, we built a model that predicted 8 consecutive weekly sea louse abundance levels, based on the preceding week's lice prediction. We calibrated the parameters in our model on a randomly selected subset of training data, choosing the parameter combinations that minimized the absolute difference between the predicted and observed sea louse abundance values. We validated the parameters on the remaining, unseen, subset of data. We encoded our model and made it available as a Web-accessible applet for producers. We determined a threshold, based on the upper 97.5% predictive interval, as a guideline for producers using the tool. We hypothesize that if farms exceed this threshold, especially if the sea lice levels are above this threshold 2 and 4 weeks into the model predictions, the sea louse population on the farm is likely influenced by sources other than lice within the farm.

Evaluation of aquaculture management zones as a control measure for salmon lice in Norway

We evaluated the use of coordinated fallowing as a means to control salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis infestation in farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. In discrete management zones, aquaculture operations such as stocking, fallowing, treatments and harvesting are synchronized at all sites in coordinated areas within the zones. The expected benefit of synchronized generations is to reduce the presence of salmon lice larvae after a period of fallowing, as well as to minimize external infestation pressure from surrounding aquaculture sites. A regression analysis was used to evaluate the effectiveness of coordinated fallowing on the progression of external salmon lice infestation pressure and abundance in Atlantic salmon farming sites in 2 areas (zones) in Norway. The overall results show that external infestation pressure was higher inside than outside the management zones, and the external infestation pressure increased with increasing biomass throughout the production cycle. However, within the zones, the external infestation pressure at the beginning of a production cycle was high and in many cases even higher than the general external infestation pressure in the non-coordinated areas. This suggests that external infestation pressure from the neighboring areas has a considerable effect on the fallowed area. Higher numbers of salmon lice were recorded within the zones than outside and, as the production cycle progressed, this phenomenon became more evident. We conclude that the high infestation pressure from salmon lice at the beginning of the grow-out period after fallowing raises severe doubts about the effectiveness of coordinated fallowing practices.

Using state-space models to predict the abundance of juvenile and adult sea lice on Atlantic salmon

Sea lice are marine parasites affecting salmon farms, and are considered one of the most costly pests of the salmon aquaculture industry. Infestations of sea lice on farms significantly increase opportunities for the parasite to spread in the surrounding ecosystem, making control of this pest a challenging issue for salmon producers. The complexity of controlling sea lice on salmon farms requires frequent monitoring of the abundance of different sea lice stages over time. Industry-based data sets of counts of lice are amenable to multivariate time-series data analyses. In this study, two sets of multivariate autoregressive state-space models were applied to Chilean sea lice data from six Atlantic salmon production cycles on five isolated farms (at least 20 km seaway distance away from other known active farms), to evaluate the utility of these models for predicting sea lice abundance over time on farms. The models were constructed with different parameter configurations, and the analysis demonstrated large heterogeneity between production cycles for the autoregressive parameter, the effects of chemotherapeutant bath treatments, and the process-error variance. A model allowing for different parameters across production cycles had the best fit and the smallest overall prediction errors. However, pooling information across cycles for the drift and observation error parameters did not substantially affect model performance, thus reducing the number of necessary parameters in the model. Bath treatments had strong but variable effects for reducing sea lice burdens, and these effects were stronger for adult lice than juvenile lice. Our multivariate state-space models were able to handle different sea lice stages and provide predictions for sea lice abundance with reasonable accuracy up to five weeks out.