Aquatic Animals

Aquaculture and Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management in aquaculture uses multiple approaches to manage parasites and disease while minimising chemical use and welfare harm to farmed fish.

Key Facts

Sea lice management is the primary pest management challenge in salmon aquaculture
IPM combines biological controls, physical treatments, and targeted chemicals
Cleaner fish including wrasse and lumpfish are biological controls for sea lice
Freshwater and thermal treatments remove lice without chemicals
Over-reliance on chemical treatments has driven resistance in lice populations

Welfare Considerations

IPM approaches aim to minimise overall pest burden while reducing chemical treatment frequency and associated stress. Each treatment method carries welfare costs: cleaner fish may bite aggressively, thermal treatments cause heat stress, and mechanical treatments involve physical handling. Designing IPM programmes that minimise total welfare cost across all interventions is the welfare-optimal approach to lice management.

What You Can Do

Support aquaculture standards requiring IPM approaches to lice management
Choose salmon from farms with documented low-chemical IPM programmes
Advocate for welfare assessment of all lice treatment methods
Support research into novel biological and physical lice control
Ask retailers about their supplier IPM practices and chemical treatment records