Beware of Facebook science
Letter to the Editor by Jon Grant, PhD, Halifax, Chronicle Herald, Oct 23, 2012
I have been reading about Alexandra Morton’s exploits in Nova Scotia, and she seems to be a self-appointed saviour whose only goal is disruption. So far, she has attempted to harm Sobeys and our aquaculture industry.
As a scientist, I would not pretend that results reported on Facebook concerning fish quality were scientifically valid. There is so much that has not been reported, including source of fish, randomness of the store and fish selection, and numbers of fish and stores sampled. Particularly important would be the number of sea lice occurring on wild-caught fish. This is in addition to the fact there is no risk whatsoever to consumers.
Ms. Morton has generated a frenzy among coastal residents, many of whom are already opposed to aquaculture. Nova Scotians who are looking at aquaculture on a factual basis rather than via scare tactics should beware of “science” presented in this fashion.
News: Salmon sea lice report rare and unusual, says UPEI vet
South Coast Today, October 25, 2012
When contacted by SCT about the reports that 30 to 90 adult sea lice had been found in and around the gills of whole Atlantic farmed salmon sold at supermarkets in Atlantic Canada, University of PEI professor of aquatic epidemiology Larry Hammel told SCT “I’ve never seen this many lice in the gills of fish,” Hammel told SCT. “It is very unusual and perplexing as adult lice do not live on gills.”
The sea lice were reported by BC-based researcher Alexandra Morton , who is in the area to present the Ransome Meyers Lecture at Dalhousie University Friday evening.
After photos of the sea lice were posted on Sobeys' Facebook page and other places on the internet, Sobeys recalled all whole salmon on its 84 regional stores and said they were to conduct an investigation of the matter.
A more likely scenario than the sea lice growing on the gills, says Hammel, is that the lice were in the ice slurry in which salmon are shipped from the cage site where the slaughter takes place to the processing plant. One gill is generally sliced open to allow the bleeding to take place and lice may have attached there.
When asked whether the disturbing number of sea lice found in the Sobeys fish might provoke the salmon grower to revisit the health protocols at the farm where the fish was grown, Hammel had doubts. “There is a rigorous monitoring system in place in this region and Cooke has three full-time veterinarians on staff.” The grower and supplier of the salmon would know exactly where the salmon came from, but would rely on their own data, rather than Morton’s, for any risk assessment, says Hammel.
“The salmon grower is going to be largely concerned about the optics here,” says Hammel, who told SCT that the sea lice pose no rick to humans. One possibility for the large number of lice being on the fish, said Hammel, is that a grower noted a concentration of lice on fish nearing harvest weight and, “rather than going through the expense of a chemical treatment regime, decide to harvest early” and ship the fish to market.
Aquaculture activist and global coordinator at GAAIA told SCT that he thinks Hammel is an aquaculture industry "stooge", who operates as "a scientist for rent." Staniford said that Hammel operated as an apologist for the industry during the Infection Salmon Anemia contagion in Shelburne early in 2012, minimizing in media interviews the risk that ISA posed to salmon populations and to humans.
When asked by CBC interviewer Don Connolly whether fish with ISA were without any harm to humans, Hammel said, "Yeah. The virus lives in cold temperatures, so when it is introduced into mammals, there is no disease present."
