Gotta love that even the Pacific salmon forum says lice are an issue that needs to be managed, even though they weighted the forum with a politican/lawyer, a aquaculture biologist, an aquaculture marketer, a salmon farmer, a fishing guide/ fish farm hatchery worker, a politican that sat on the board of fisheries and aquaculture, and maybe an eco friendly chairman? Though I'm assuming if it is an eco friendly chair that he didn't pick the other members of the forum?
Reading the document, you really hear the PR spin on the "uncertainty" and public being mis-informed on lice and fish farming, with the old "some" scientists still diagreee B.S.. Sure some scientists will say lice effects are still uncertain, you'll also find scientsist that feel global warming is B.S., and sasquatch and the loch ness monsters are real.
From the report: "Set performance based indicators for farmed salmon production and support a coordinated area management approach in the Broughton Archipelago beginning in 2009
Rationale: Based on interim research results in the Broughton, the Forum has reached the following conclusions: »» No more than 3% of juvenile wild pink and chum salmon of less than 0.5 grams should have more than one pre-adult or later stage L. salmonis between March 1 and May 31, based on the estimated natural background of lice in the Broughton"
Sounds promising. Mortons work originally looked at mortality of fish <1.4g, so I wonder if the <.5g, makes this still worthwhile or if it's a smoke screen. Are the salmon even that small still at that timing? And why not monitor till the end of migration at the end of June, especially since ocean temps are not as stable as they once were?
Hopefully the report gets used, though they are all just recomendations I'm sure will be watered down or fought against in court f the farmers don't like the new measures since they can probably argue that the province has no jurisdiction on ocean policy, only the fed.