Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G1 Canada.
Ecol Appl. 2013 Apr;23(3):606-20. doi: 10.1890/12-0519.1.
The resilience of coastal social-ecological systems may depend on adaptive responses to aquaculture disease outbreaks that can threaten wild and farm fish. A nine-year study of parasitic sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) and pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) from Pacific Canada indicates that adaptive changes in parasite management on salmon farms have yielded positive conservation outcomes. After four years of sea lice epizootics and wild salmon population decline, parasiticide application on salmon farms was adapted to the timing of wild salmon migrations. Winter treatment of farm fish with parasiticides, prior to the out-migration of wild juvenile salmon, has reduced epizootics of wild salmon without significantly increasing the annual number of treatments. Levels of parasites on wild juvenile salmon significantly influence the growth rate of affected salmon populations, suggesting that these changes in management have had positive outcomes for wild salmon populations. These adaptive changes have not occurred through formal adaptive management, but rather, through multi-stakeholder processes arising from a contentious scientific and public debate. Despite the apparent success of parasite control on salmon farms in the study region, there remain concerns about the long-term sustainability of this approach because of the unknown ecological effects of parasticides and the potential for parasite resistance to chemical treatments.
沿海社会-生态系统的弹性可能取决于对水产养殖疾病爆发的适应性反应，这些疾病可能威胁到野生和养殖鱼类。对来自加拿大太平洋地区的寄生性海虱（Lepeophtheirus salmonis）和粉鲑（Oncorhynchus gorbuscha）进行的为期九年的研究表明，鲑鱼养殖场寄生虫管理的适应性变化带来了积极的保护成果。在海虱爆发和野生鲑鱼种群减少四年后，鲑鱼养殖场的杀寄生虫剂应用根据野生鲑鱼洄游的时间进行了调整。在野生幼鲑鱼外洄游之前，冬季对养殖鱼类使用杀虫剂进行处理，减少了野生鲑鱼的寄生虫病爆发，而没有显著增加每年的处理次数。寄生虫在野生幼鲑鱼身上的水平显著影响受影响鲑鱼种群的生长速度，这表明这些管理上的变化对野生鲑鱼种群产生了积极的影响。这些适应性变化并非通过正式的适应性管理发生，而是通过源于有争议的科学和公众辩论的多方利益相关者的过程产生的。尽管研究区域鲑鱼养殖场寄生虫控制的明显成功，但人们仍然对这种方法的长期可持续性表示担忧，因为杀寄生虫剂的未知生态影响以及寄生虫对化学处理产生抗药性的可能性。
