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The Cost of Lice: Quantifying the Impacts of Parasitic Sea Lice on Farmed Salmon

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  • Jay Abolofia
  • Frank Asche
  • James E. Wilen

Abstract

Diseases are an important challenge in aquaculture. However, most of what is known about the effect of diseases comes from laboratory experiments. Using a farm-level data set containing sea lice infestation counts for all Norwegian salmon farms over an 84-month period, we empirically investigate the biological and economic impacts of observed levels of infective lice. Sea lice, a common ectoparasitic copepod of salmonids, have been shown to reduce fish growth and appetite and cause substantial costs to salmon farmers worldwide. Our results suggest that the percent of total biomass growth lost per production cycle due to average infestations varies from 3.62 to 16.55%, despite control, and depends on farm location. Using a discrete harvesting model, we simulate the economic impact on farm profits over typical cycles. An average infestation over a typical central region spring-release cycle generates damages of US$0.46 per kg of harvested biomass, equivalent to 9% of farm revenues. We estimate that lice parasitism produced US$436m in damages to the Norwegian industry in 2011.

Suggested Citation

  • Jay Abolofia & Frank Asche & James E. Wilen, 2017. "The Cost of Lice: Quantifying the Impacts of Parasitic Sea Lice on Farmed Salmon," Marine Resource Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 329-349.
  • Handle: RePEc:ucp:mresec:doi:10.1086/691981
    DOI: 10.1086/691981
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    Cited by:

    1. Atle Oglend & Vesa-Heikki Soini, 2020. "Implications of Entry Restrictions to Address Externalities in Aquaculture: The Case of Salmon Aquaculture," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 77(4), pages 673-694, December.
    2. Botterell, Zara L.R. & Lindeque, Penelope K. & Thompson, Richard C. & Beaumont, Nicola J., 2023. "An assessment of the ecosystem services of marine zooplankton and the key threats to their provision," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Haarstad, Aleksander H. & Lavrutich, Maria & Strypet, Kristian & Strøm, Eivind, 2022. "Multi-commodity price risk hedging in the Atlantic salmon farming industry," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    4. Ingunn Y. Gudbrandsdottir & Nína M. Saviolidis & Gudrun Olafsdottir & Gudmundur V. Oddsson & Hlynur Stefansson & Sigurdur G. Bogason, 2021. "Transition Pathways for the Farmed Salmon Value Chain: Industry Perspectives and Sustainability Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, November.
    5. Bronnmann, Julia & Asche, Frank, 2017. "Sustainable Seafood From Aquaculture and Wild Fisheries: Insights From a Discrete Choice Experiment in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 113-119.
    6. Murray, Alexander G & Moriarty, Meadhbh, 2021. "A simple modelling tool for assessing interaction with host and local infestation of sea lice from salmonid farms on wild salmonids based on processes operating at multiple scales in space and time," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 443(C).
    7. Onozaka, Yuko & Honkanen, Pirjo & Altintzoglou, Themistoklis, 2023. "Sustainability, perceived quality and country of origin of farmed salmon: Impact on consumer choices in the USA, France and Japan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    8. Asche, Frank & Smith, Martin D., 2018. "Viewpoint: Induced Innovation in Fisheries and Aquaculture," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-7.
    9. Felipe J. Quezada & Nathan W. Chan, 2023. "A Framework for Estimating the Impact of Monitoring and Enforcement on (Unobserved) Illicit Extraction," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(2), pages 627-647, February.
    10. Gaspard Philis & Friederike Ziegler & Mona Dverdal Jansen & Lars Christian Gansel & Sara Hornborg & Grete Hansen Aas & Anne Stene, 2022. "Quantifying environmental impacts of cleaner fish used as sea lice treatments in salmon aquaculture with life cycle assessment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(6), pages 1992-2005, December.
    11. Schütz, Peter & Westgaard, Sjur, 2018. "Optimal hedging strategies for salmon producers," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 60-70.

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