Aquaculture

Farmed Salmon Sea Lice Treatment Welfare

Sea lice treatments including chemical, thermal, and mechanical methods all carry welfare impacts for salmon, requiring careful selection and protocol development to minimise suffering.

Key Facts

Sea lice cause skin lesions, haemorrhage, and immune suppression in farmed salmon
Hydrogen peroxide bath treatment kills lice but can cause thermal stress at high concentrations
Thermolicer devices use heated water to detach lice with significant thermal stress risk
Mechanical delousing devices cause physical injury if incorrectly calibrated
Biological control using cleaner fish reduces chemical treatment need but has its own welfare implications

Welfare Considerations

Sea lice treatments involve unavoidable welfare trade-offs. Minimising treatment frequency through prevention and optimising protocols reduces cumulative treatment stress.

What You Can Do

Support certification schemes requiring responsible lice management protocols
Choose salmon from farms using multiple integrated lice control methods
Advocate for welfare-centred evaluation of delousing technology approval
Support research into biological control alternatives with better welfare profiles