A NEW water purification system to help the treatment of sea lice on farmed salmon is to be tested in Scotland.
The system will be trialled for the first time alongside a medicine used to treat sea lice, in what is claimed could provide a boost for fish health, and clean the water in which they have been treated.
It comes against the backdrop of £40 million a year costs of managing sea lice in Scotland, said to be considered the greatest biological challenge to the aquaculture sector.
The new system, called CleanTreat, is developed by aquaculture biotechnology firm Benchmark, and will be tested at a Mowi fish farm over the next month, in a trial backed by the University of Stirling and the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre.
The consortium will test the efficacy of CleanTreat in removing Salmosan Vet, a treatment for sea lice, aiming to determine how and in what quantities it can be filtered from treatment water.
It is claimed that introducing CleanTreat could allow fish farmers to respond more quickly to sea lice challenges and improve the process of treating fish for farmers.
Mark Todman, of Benchmark, said: “CleanTreat could enable the use of efficacious and high welfare medicines like Salmosan Vet in the most environmentally responsible manner possible, providing the best outcomes for both farmers and their fish.”
Dougie Hunter, of Mowi, said: “We take a number of different approaches to supporting their welfare, including the use of medicines.
"However, we are always conscious of any potential environmental impact and the introduction of CleanTreat could help alleviate some of the current limitations of Salmosan Vet.
"This could be a significant boost to fish health and welfare across our sites.”
Heather Jones, SAIC chief executive, said it is "important to note that it is an enhancement of an already closely controlled and tightly regulated process".
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