Industry Sea Lice Counts at BC Marine Finfish Aquaculture Sites, 2020 and Ongoing

Study Extent

All licensed finfish aquaculture farms in British Columbia that are actively rearing salmon are subject to the reporting requirements outlined in their conditions of licence.

Sampling

Licence holders are required to perform sea lice counts on a minimum of three stocked containment structures once every month from July to January. During the juvenile salmon outmigration periods (March to June), this requirement increases to once every two weeks. Each counting event requires that 20 fish be sampled from three separate pens during a five-day period. In cases where extra counting events are performed or extra pens are counted, these are included in the report, even though they exceed the minimal requirements. The dates reported indicate the dates on which counts began. Monitoring requirements and sampling protocols for licenced aquaculture facilities are outlined in the Marine Finfish BC Aquaculture Licence and Conditions of Licence. Refer to Section 6 for monitoring requirements ( https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/licence-permis/docs/licence-cond-permis-mar/index-eng.html#6 ) and Appendix VI for sampling protocols ( https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/licence-permis/docs/licence-cond-permis-mar/index-eng.html#VI ).

Method steps

1. Refer to Appendix VI of the Marine Finfish BC Aquaculture Licence and Conditions of Licence for sampling and reporting requirements. https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/licence-permis/docs/licence-cond-permis-mar/index-eng.html#VI
2. To prepare this dataset for OBIS Canada publication, data was structured into an OBIS-compatible format using Microsoft Excel and laid out in four tables: an Event Core, Occurrence Core and two Extended Measurement or Fact extensions. Defined vocabularies listed on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Vocabulary Server (NVS) were used whenever possible. Requests were submitted for the addition of new terms to the NVS for terms not currently defined — including the lifeStage "motiles."
3. Data users should note that adult female Lepeophtheirus salmonis represent a subset of the Lepeophtheirus salmonis motiles reported for each event.

1. Lepeophtheirus salmonis
   common name: Sea louse rank: species
2. Caligus clemensi
   common name: Sea louse rank: species
3. Salmo salar
   common name: Atlantic salmon rank: species
4. Caligidae
   common name: Sea louse rank: family

British Columbia marine finish aquaculture sites. View a PDF map of these sites here: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/bc-cb/docs/maps-cartes/mar-bc-eng.pdf