• 25. January 2019
  • By:Eirik Norstein Danielsen

News

Useful lice conference

Over 400 attended this year’s Lice Conference in Trondheim. There was a positive response when Lonan Kierans from Proactima presented the experiences from the live lice portal for Ryfylke.

The conference dealt with new research knowledge and practical experience in relation to prevention, control and combating salmon lice. In addition, results from completed and active lice related projects were presented.

“Together with Gro Vee from MOWI, I presented the experiences from Ryfylke where we have been testing a web portal that provides useful information for those who work at the cages. Information from the portal enables them to plan activities better and be aware of infectious larvae pressure in advance”, Lonan says.

Useful portal
In short, the portal provides up-to-date information and five-day notification of direction and speed of local currents. It also provides a five-day alert for the spread of infectious larvae (pre-lice stage). This alert system enables the operator to take action to reduce the risk of increased adult female lice. This can be, for example, by feeding the fish deeper in the sea or by placing a so-called lice skirt around the cage.

The portal is proving to be a useful planning tool. Today, the portal is in use in Ryfylke but Lonan Kierans foresees the possibility of developing similar models for use along the coast.

Several research institutes participated in the conference, including the Institute of Marine Research, Sintef and the Norwegian Veterinary Institute. The conference was organized by FHF – The Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry´s research funding – and lasted from January 21 – 23.