Salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean show evidence of evolved resistance to parasiticide treatment

Sean C. Godwin; Andrew W. Bateman; Anna Kuparinen; Rick Johnson; John Powell; Kelly Speck; Jeffrey A. Hutchings

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-07464-1

Salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean show evidence of evolved resistance to parasiticide treatment

Sean C. Godwin, Andrew W. Bateman, Anna Kuparinen, Rick Johnson, John Powell, Kelly Speck, Jeffrey A. Hutchings

Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Parasitic salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) threaten the economic and ecological sustainability of salmon farming, and their evolved resistance to treatment with emamectin benzoate (EMB) has been a major problem for salmon farming in the Atlantic Ocean. In contrast, the Pacific Ocean, where wild salmon are far more abundant, has not seen widespread evolution of EMB-resistant lice. Here, we use EMB bioassays and counts of lice on farms from the Broughton Archipelago, Canada—a core region of salmon farming in the Pacific—to show that EMB sensitivity has dramatically decreased since 2010, concurrent with marked decrease in the field efficacy of EMB treatments. Notably, these bioassay data were not made available through public reporting by industry or by the federal regulator, but rather through Indigenous-led agreements that created a legal obligation for salmon-farming companies to provide data to First Nations. Our results suggest that salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean have recently evolved substantial resistance to EMB, and that salmon-louse outbreaks on Pacific farms will therefore be more difficult to control in the coming years.

Original language	English
Article number	4775
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07464-1
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are enormously saddened by the loss of our co-author Jeffrey Hutchings, who passed away just prior to the acceptance of this paper; we remember his contributions to science and the positive influence he had on the lives of so many. We are grateful for the support of the Broughton Aquaculture Transition Initiative leadership and technical teams. This research was funded by a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellowship (to S.C.G), NSERC Discovery Grants (RGPIN-2021-04372 to J.A.H. and RGPIN-2015-04249 to A.K.), the European Research Council (COMPLEX-FISH 770884 to A.K.), and the Academy of Finland (317495 to A.K.).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

General

PubMed: MeSH publication types

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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10.1038/s41598-022-07464-1

Cite this

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title = "Salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean show evidence of evolved resistance to parasiticide treatment",

abstract = "Parasitic salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) threaten the economic and ecological sustainability of salmon farming, and their evolved resistance to treatment with emamectin benzoate (EMB) has been a major problem for salmon farming in the Atlantic Ocean. In contrast, the Pacific Ocean, where wild salmon are far more abundant, has not seen widespread evolution of EMB-resistant lice. Here, we use EMB bioassays and counts of lice on farms from the Broughton Archipelago, Canada—a core region of salmon farming in the Pacific—to show that EMB sensitivity has dramatically decreased since 2010, concurrent with marked decrease in the field efficacy of EMB treatments. Notably, these bioassay data were not made available through public reporting by industry or by the federal regulator, but rather through Indigenous-led agreements that created a legal obligation for salmon-farming companies to provide data to First Nations. Our results suggest that salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean have recently evolved substantial resistance to EMB, and that salmon-louse outbreaks on Pacific farms will therefore be more difficult to control in the coming years.",

author = "Godwin, {Sean C.} and Bateman, {Andrew W.} and Anna Kuparinen and Rick Johnson and John Powell and Kelly Speck and Hutchings, {Jeffrey A.}",

note = "Funding Information: We are enormously saddened by the loss of our co-author Jeffrey Hutchings, who passed away just prior to the acceptance of this paper; we remember his contributions to science and the positive influence he had on the lives of so many. We are grateful for the support of the Broughton Aquaculture Transition Initiative leadership and technical teams. This research was funded by a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellowship (to S.C.G), NSERC Discovery Grants (RGPIN-2021-04372 to J.A.H. and RGPIN-2015-04249 to A.K.), the European Research Council (COMPLEX-FISH 770884 to A.K.), and the Academy of Finland (317495 to A.K.). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

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N2 - Parasitic salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) threaten the economic and ecological sustainability of salmon farming, and their evolved resistance to treatment with emamectin benzoate (EMB) has been a major problem for salmon farming in the Atlantic Ocean. In contrast, the Pacific Ocean, where wild salmon are far more abundant, has not seen widespread evolution of EMB-resistant lice. Here, we use EMB bioassays and counts of lice on farms from the Broughton Archipelago, Canada—a core region of salmon farming in the Pacific—to show that EMB sensitivity has dramatically decreased since 2010, concurrent with marked decrease in the field efficacy of EMB treatments. Notably, these bioassay data were not made available through public reporting by industry or by the federal regulator, but rather through Indigenous-led agreements that created a legal obligation for salmon-farming companies to provide data to First Nations. Our results suggest that salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean have recently evolved substantial resistance to EMB, and that salmon-louse outbreaks on Pacific farms will therefore be more difficult to control in the coming years.

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Salmon lice in the Pacific Ocean show evidence of evolved resistance to parasiticide treatment

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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