Scientific References on Toxicity of Farmed Salmon
Consumption warnings
Salmon health alert Farmed salmon should not be eaten no more than three times a year due to the toxin levels. But Dr Jeffery Foran, an American toxicologist involved in the study, said neither he nor his family would eat farmed salmon again after what he discovered. There are also health concerns over feeding the fish chemicals which colour their flesh pink.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-205547/Salmon-health-alert.html
Consumption advisories for salmon based on risk of cancer and noncancer health effects. The most stringent recommendation, for farmed salmon from northern Europe, was at most one meal every 5 months in order to not exceed an elevated risk of cancer of more than 1 in 100,000. Farmed salmon from North and South America triggered advisories of between 0.4 and one meal per month.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16198332
Quantitative Analysis of the Benefits and Risks of Consuming Farmed and Wild Salmon This study found wild salmon have significantly lower contaminant concentrations than farmed salmon from any region. Young children, women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, and nursing mothers not at significant risk for sudden cardiac death associated with CHD but concerned with health impairments such as reduction in IQ and other cognitive and behavioral effects, can minimize contaminant exposure by choosing the least contaminated wild salmon.
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/11/2639.full
Farmed salmon high in PCBs: study As little as one meal a week of B.C. farmed salmon could pose health hazards, according to a Vancouver geneticist. Michael Easton says he found elevated levels of PCBs in salmon raised in pens along Canada's west coast.Easton is blaming the feed used to fatten the fish and promote their rapid growth. He says it's laced with PCBs.” http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2002/05/17/salmon_020517.html
Preliminary examination of contaminant loadings in farmed salmon, wild salmon and commercial salmon feed This analysis indicated a safety concern for individuals who on a regular weekly basis consume farmed salmon produced from contaminated feed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653501001369
Global Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Farmed Salmon “Risk analysis indicates that consumption of farmed Atlantic salmon may pose health risks that detract from the beneficial effects of fish consumption.” http://www.sciencemag.org/content/303/5655/226.short
DNA damage induced by ethoxyquin in human peripheral lymphocytes. Fish oil used in farmed salmon feed goes rancid and so Ethoxyquin is used to preserve the oil. Ethoxyquin has been found to cause DNA damage in humans. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16266792
Carry-over of dietary organochlorine pesticides, PCDD/Fs, PCBs, and brominated flame retardants to Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) fillets This study examined how much of the toxins in farmed salmon feed ends up in the salmon fillets people eat. The result showed toxins transfer from the feed to salmon 5-10 times higher than in terrestrial meat products (meaning cows and pigs). Uptake of toxaphene among the highest. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21284993
Risk-based consumption advice for farmed Atlantic and wild Pacific salmon contaminated with dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. Consumption of farmed salmon at relatively low frequencies results in elevated exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds with commensurate elevation in estimates of health risk. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15866762?dopt=Abstract
EU Clears Use of Some Animal Proteins in Fish Feed “The European Union (EU) has officially ended a long-standing ban on using certain processed animal proteins (PAPs) in fish feed... Stringent controls including species-specific processing and species-of-origin testing will ensure that only poultry and porcine PAPs enter the feed chain. Ruminant PAPs remain prohibited. The use of PAPs in feed was banned in 1997 for cattle, and extended to all animals in 2001 in an effort to control the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak in Europe.” http://www.rendermagazine.com/articles/2013-issues/april-2013/eu-clears-use
Levels of synthetic antioxidants (ethoxyquin, butylated hydroxytoluene and butylated hydroxyanisole) in fish feed and commercially farmed fish The highest levels of BHT, EQ and BHA were found in farmed Atlantic salmon fillets, (also tested halibut, cod and rainbow trout) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20931417
Changes in concentrations of perfluorinated compounds, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and polychlorinated biphenyls in Norwegian breast-milk during twelve months of lactation. During twelve months of nursing the levels of toxins in their milk dropped 15-95% suggesting the toxic load was transferred to the infant. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21090747
Chronic consumption of farmed salmon containing persistent organic pollutants causes insulin resistance and obesity in mice This study found that mice that ate farmed salmon regularly gained weight and were at elevated risk of diabetes. The results are consistent with a growing body of research on people, linking POPs exposure to type 2 diabetes. Mice fed contaminated salmon gained twice as much weight and developed more severe insulin resistance measures than mice that ate no salmon but the same amount of fat. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0025170
Intake of Farmed Atlantic Salmon Fed Soybean Oil Increases Insulin Resistance and Hepatic Lipid Accumulation in Mice . As fish oils become scarce and vegetable oils are used to replace them, this study examined the affect of this on consumers. The authors conclude the effects they saw may be a matter for concern that warrants further investigation. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23301026
Accumulation and distribution of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin, dibenzofuran, and polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). This study looked whether specific toxins were transferred from salmon feed, into farmed salmon. Biomagnification of all the PCBs was observed. “Differences in the behavior of PCDD/F and PCB congeners resulted in a selective enrichment of the most toxic congeners in salmon.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15230320
Viruses
Disease outbreaks on salmon farms in BC by year
Kent and Dawe 1990, Experimental Transmission of a Plasmacytoid Leukemia of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. CANCER RESEARCH (SUPPL) 50: 5679s-5681s.
Newbound, G.C., Kent, M.L. 1991. Experimental interspecies transmission of plasmacytoid leukemia in salmonid fishes. Dis. Aquat. Org.10: 159-166.
Eaton and Kent 1992. A Retrovirus in Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) with Plasmacytoid Leukemia and Evidence for the Etiology of the Disease. CANCER RESEARCH, 52: 6496-6500
Kent and Dawe 1993. Further evidence for a viral etiology in Plasmacytoid leukemia of chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. DISEASES OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS. 15: 115-121
Stephen, C., Kent, M.L., Dawe, S.C. 1993. Hepatic megalocytosis in wild and farmed chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in British Columbia, Canada. Dis. Aquat. Org. 16: 35-39.
Stephen, R. C. 1995 A Field Investigation of Marine Anemia in Farmer Salmon in British Columbia. Thesis submitted to Department of Veterinary Microbiology, U Saskatchewan.
Stephen, Ribble, Kent 1996. Descriptive epidemiology of marine anemia in seapen-reared salmon in southern British Columbia. Canadian Veterinary Journal 37.
Stephen and Ribble. 1997 Mortality surveys as a tool for studying marine anaemia in seapen-reared chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum). Aquaculture Research 28: 265-269.
St-Hilaire, S., Ribble, C., Stephen, C., Anderson, E., Kurath, G., Kent, M.L. 2002. Epidemiological investigation of infectious hematopoietic necrosis viral saltwater netpen-reared Atlantic salmon in British Columbia, Canada. Aquaculture 212: 49-97.
Saksida, S. 2006. The 2001-2003 infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) epidemic in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salarL.) in British Columbia, Canada. Dis. Aquat. Org. 72: 213-223.
ISA virus transmission from Norway to Chile
Nylund, Nylund and Vike. 2009. ISA virus in Chile: evidence of vertical transmission. Arch Virol 154: 1-8
Piscine reovirus and Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation
Other papers/reports
Bakke, T.A., Harris, P.D. 1998. Diseases and parasites in wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 55 (Suppl. 1): 247-266.
Miller, K. 2009. Epidemic of a novel, cancer-causing viral disease may be associated with wild salmon declines in BC. DFO-05250. 7 Oct 2009.
IHN virus
Garver KA, Mahony AAM, Stucchi D, Richard J, Van Woensel C, et al. (2013) Estimation of Parameters Influencing Waterborne Transmission of Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV) in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). PLoS ONE 8(12): e82296. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082296
Sea lice from salmon farms infect wild juvenile salmon
2013
Krkosek, M., C. Revie, B. Finstad, & C. Todd. Comment on Jackson et al. "Impact of Lepeophtheirus salmonis infestations on migrating Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., smolts at eight locations in Ireland with an analysis of lice-induced marine mortality" Journal of Fish Diseases. In press.
(*News coverage by the Scotland Herald and the Irish Times.)
Thitiwan P., J. Sanchez, E.E. Rees, M. Krkosek, S.R.M. Jones & C.W. Revie. 2013. Sea lice infestations on juvenile chum and pink salmon in the Broughton Archipelago, Canada from 2003 to 2012. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms.
Rogers, L., S. Peacock, P. McKenzie, S. DeDominicis, S. Jones, P. Chandler, M. Foreman, C. Revie, & M. Krkosek. 2013. Modeling parasite dynamics on farmed salmon for precautionary conservation management of wild salmon. PLoS ONE. 8: e60096.
2012
Connors B.M., Braun D.C., Peterman R.M., Cooper A.B., Reynolds J.D., Dill L.M., Ruggerone G.T., and M. Krkošek. 2012. Migration links ocean-scale competition and local climate with exposure to farmed salmon to shape wild salmon dynamics. Conservation Letters. 5(4), 304-312. (*News coverage in the Vancouver Sun.)
Frazer, L.N., A. Morton, and M. Krkosek. 2012. Critical thresholds in sea lice epidemics: evidence, sensitivity, and subcritical estimation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. 279 (1735):1950-1958.
2011
Ashander, J., M. Krkosek, & M. Lewis. 2011. Aquaculture-induced changes to dynamics of a migratory host and specialist parasite: a case study of pink salmon and sea lice. Theoretical Ecology. DOI 10.1007/s12080-011-0122-4
Connors, B., C. Lagasse, & L. Dill. 2011. What's love got to do with it? Ontogenetic changes in drivers of dispersal in a marine ectoparasite. Behavioral Ecology. 22(3), 588-593.
Krkosek, M., & R. Hilborn. 2011. Sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) infestations and the productivity of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 68(1), 17-29.
Krkosek, M., B. Connors, A. Morton, M. Lewis, L. Dill, & R. Hilborn. 2011. Effects of parasites from salmon farms on wild salmon populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 108, 14700-14704.
Krkosek, M., B. Connors, P. Mages, S. Peacock, H. Ford, J. Ford, A. Morton, J. Volpe, R. Hilborn, L. Dill, & M. Lewis. 2011. Fish farms, parasites, and predators: Implications for salmon population dynamics. Ecological Applications. 21, 897-914.
Krkosek, M., R. Hilborn, R. Peterman, & T. Quinn. 2011. Cycles, stochastcity, and density dependence in pink salmon population dynamics. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. 278, 2060-2068.
Morton, A., A. McConnell, R. Routledge, & M. Krkosek. 2011. Sea lice dispersion and salmon survival in relation to fallowing and chemical treatment on salmon farms. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 68, 144-156.
Williams, R., M. Krkosek, E. Ashe, T. A. Branch, S. Clark, et al. 2011. Competing conservation objectives for predators and prey: estimating killer whale prey requirements for chinook salmon. PLoS ONE. 6(11).
2010
Connors, B., M. Krkosek, J. Ford, & L. Dill. 2010. Coho salmon productivity in relation to direct and trophic transmission of sea lice from salmon aquaculture. Journal of Applied Ecology. 47, 1372-1377.
Connors B.M., Hargreaves, B., Jones, S.R.M., and L.M. Dill. 2010. Predation intensifies parasite exposure in a salmonid food chain. Journal of Applied Ecology. 47(6), 1365-1371
Krkosek, M. 2010. Host density thresholds and disease control for fisheries and aquaculture. Aquaculture Environment Interactions. 1, 21-32. (Invited Article for 1st Issue)
Krkosek, M. 2010. Sea lice and salmon in Pacific Canada: Ecology and policy. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 8, 201-209.
Krkosek, M. & M. Lewis. 2010. An R0 theory for source-sink dynamics with application to Dreissena competition. Theoretical Ecology. 3, 24-43.
Krkosek, M., A. Bateman, S. Proboscsz, & C. Orr. 2010. Dynamics of outbreak and control of salmon lice on two salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago. Aquaculture Environment Interactions. 1, 137-146.
Lewis, M.A., M. Krkosek, & M.J. Wonham. 2010. Dynamics of emerging wildlife disease. In S. Sivaloganathan (Ed) Mathematical Biology, Fields Institute Communications, American Mathematical Society.
Losos, C., J. Reynolds, & L. Dill. 2010. Sex-selective predation by threespine sticklebacks on sea lice: A novel cleaning behaviour. Ethology. 116.10, 981-989.
2009
Dill, L.M., Losos, C., Connors. B.M., & P Mages. 2009. Comment on Beamish et al. (2005) “A proposed life history strategy for the salmon louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis in the subarctic Pacific”. Aquaculture 286: 154-155.
Keller, R., M.A. Lewis, D.M. Lodge, J. F. Shogren, & M. Krkosek. 2009. Putting bioeconomic research into practice. In Bioeconomics of Invasive Species: Integrating ecology, economics, policy and management. Editors: R. Keller, D.M. Lodge, M. A. Lewis and J. F. Shogren. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Krkosek, M., A. Morton, J. Volpe, & M. Lewis. 2009. Sea lice and salmon population dynamics: Effects of exposure time for migratory fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. 276, 2819-2828.
2008
Connors, B.M., M. Krkosek, & L.M. Dill. 2008. Sea lice escape predation on their host. Biology Letters. 4: 455-457.
Connors, B.M., E. Juarez-Colunga, & L.M. Dill. 2008. Effects of varying salinities on Lepeophtheirus salmonis survival on juvenile pink and chum salmon. Journal of Fish Biology. 72: 1825-1830.
Ford, J.S. & R.A. Myers. 2008. A global assessment of salmon aquaculture impacts on wild salmonids. PLoS Biology. 6(2): e33.
Krkosek, M., J. Ford, A. Morton, S. Lele, & M. Lewis. 2008. Response to comment on 'Declining wild salmon populations in relation to parasites from farm salmon.' Science. 322, 1790-1791.
Krkosek, M., J.S. Ford, A. Morton, S. Lele, & M.A. Lewis. 2008. Sea lice and pink salmon declines: A response to Brooks and Jones. Reviews in Fisheries Science. 16: 413-420.
Morton, A., R. Routledge, & M. Krkosek. 2008. Sea lice infestation of juvenile salmon and herring associated with fish farms off the east central coast of British Columbia. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 28, 523-532.
2007
Krkosek, M., J.S. Ford, A. Morton, S. Lele, R.A. Myers, & M.A. Lewis. 2007. Declining wild salmon populations in relation to parasites from farm salmon. Science. 318: 1772-1775.
Krkosek, M., A. Gottesfeld, B. Proctor, D. Rolston, C. Carr-Harris, & M.A. Lewis. 2007. Effects of host migration, diversity, and aquaculture on disease threats to wild fish populations. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. 274: 3141-3149.
IMPACT OF BRIGHT LIGHTS ON SALMON FARMS
McConnell, A., R. Routledge, & B. Connors. 2010. The effect of artificial light on marine invertebrate and fish abundance in an area of active salmon farming. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 419:147-156