No fish farms does not necessarily mean no sea lice, according to two aquaculture industry studies.
The studies also found that during their lives, anywhere between 70 and 95 per cent of wild juvenile salmon hosted 2 or less sea lice, irrespective of the research or whether or not they were sampled near or at a salmon farm. In the Discovery Islands, for example, prevalence was between four and eight per cent in 2017 and 2018, relatively low. But that prevalence increased in 2019 and 2020, to 29 and 21 per cent, respectively. With farms removed, prevalence was down to nine per cent this past spring.
Morton says that 708 of the fish that were tested in the 45 sites in Broughton, nearly half were caught before fish farms on regulation routes, while only 68 were caught beside fish farms.