Wild Salmon Face Extinction Due To Fish Farms

Parasitic sea lice found in salmon farms are driving nearby populations of wild salmon toward local extinction, according to a scientific paper published Thursday.

Researchers from the University of Alberta, Dalhousie University and the Salmon Coast Field Station in Echo Bay, B.C., said that if outbreaks of sea lice continue at their present rate, the population of wild pink salmon will drop 99 per cent in four salmon generations, or about eight years.

Martin Krkosek, with the centre for mathematical biology at the University of Alberta, said the rate of decline is so steep "it's arresting." [...]

"If we wait another 10 years to get more data, based upon what we're seeing right now, the fish are going to be long gone," he said.