New paper continues debate over link between lice from salmon farms and B.C. wild salmon
CBC
A new paper on sea lice from fish farms and wild salmon in B.C. shows a significant relationship between the two and critics say that contradicts a report from the federal government, which regulates the fish farms.
Bob Chamberlin, elected chief of Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation in B.C. and chair of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance, a political advocacy group on wild salmon protection, said the paper shows industry has too much influence on science advice at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
"It shows that the initial work by the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat hadn't a foundation in terms of objectivity, or free of conflict of interest, and I don't think that the DFO has a leg to stand on," said Chamberlin.
The new paper, published in Aquaculture Environment Interactions on June 5 and co-authored by the same scientists as the DFO report, shows a significant relationship between sea lice infestations at fish farms and sea lice on wild salmon through a method of statistical modelling.
In January 2023, a report by DFO concluded there was no statistically significant association between parasitic sea lice on salmon farms and sea lice on wild salmon.
Jaewoon Jeong, a research scientist with Ohio State University, contributed both to the DFO report and was the head author on the paper published June 5. He said the report and the paper are not the opposite of one another.
He said the interest on the relationship between infestations at fish farms and on wild salmon is more about "the level" rather than a "yes or no."
"This paper in a peer-reviewed journal is supposed to be more scientific, so I explored more statistical analysis between the sea-lice abundance on salmon farms and sea-lice infection on wild salmon," said Jeong.
The paper used the same data as the DFO report, he said, plus two additional years of recent data and considers other environmental factors in a deeper way.
"The relation between the salmon lice from salmon farms and infestation on juvenile wild salmon quite varies, depending on the regions and times, so it cannot be generalized," Jeong said.
The 2023 DFO report was criticized in a letter to the minister signed by 16 professors and research scientists from Canadian and American universities.
Sean Godwin, an assistant professor at University of California, Davis, in the department of environmental science, said the 2023 report underscored already present criticisms of the integrity of DFO's "dual mandate" to safeguard both wild salmon and the farmed salmon industry.
"The processes that DFO used to produce that science advice are not up to the standard of the rest of the world. They're not transparent, they're not evidence based, they're not impartial, and they're not independently reviewed," said Godwin.
DFO did not respond to a request for comment before time of publishing.
Medical professionals say a 2021 report supported by Health Canada could have a major impact on how the medical system can better understand chronic pain and the best ways to diagnose it — something that has been considered a major weakness in health care up to this point.
In a quiet room in the University of New Brunswick's library, Ramona Nicholas gives a small laugh when asked what it's like to be part of an archeological project involving her ancestors.
A long-delayed project to build the largest telescope in the Northern Hemisphere atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii has been given new life, as Spain has offered new funding and a new location on the island of La Palma.
This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.