Tuesday April 2, 2024
Feed Strategy —
Salmon producers have seen an increase in the frequency and severity of mass die-off events, according to new research in the journal Scientific Reports, but the reason why remains unclear.
Researchers had initially aimed to investigate the risks and practices associated with mass death events at salmon farms after a 2020 die-off in Newfoundland, said Gerald Singh, an assistant professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria in Canada and one of the authors of the study. Then another researcher on the team pointed out that salmon producers seemed to be experiencing mass death events — when large numbers of fish die in a short period of time — all over the world.
Because there is no set definition or threshold for what is considered a mass death event, the research team built a global database of known die-offs and then evaluated when the largest 10% had occurred. The analysis pointed to an increase in the frequency and the size of events between 2012 and 2022, according to the study.