Estimating the dispersal of Lepeophtheirus salmonis using routine counts among aquaculture sites in southwest New Brunswick
Parent, M. (2024). Estimating the dispersal of Lepeophtheirus salmonis using routine counts among aquaculture sites in southwest New Brunswick. PhD Thesis. University of Prince Edward Island: Charlottetown. xxiv, 387 pp.
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Document type: Dissertation
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| Keywords |
Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer, 1837) [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal |
| Abstract |
Sea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis requires intense management practices for the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick (NB). This dissertation aims to improve the knowledge of the dispersal of L. salmonis (commonly referred to as salmon lice) in the study area, which may aid in planning decisions for sea lice mitigation strategies using monitoring counts from the Fish-iTrends© database. The biology, history, and trends of sea lice counts and treatments were described to identify possible confounding factors that may be important during the model-building process. The impact of the internal and external infestation pressures on the abundance of adult female (AF) sea lice for the Bay of Fundy, NB, for 2009-2018 was estimated using a multivariable linear mixed model. This model was used to compare different connectivity measures of dispersal distance and assess their impact when calculating external infestation pressure on modelling the AF sea lice abundance. A multivariable autoregressive model for the abundance of AF sea lice was built for 2016-2021 and employed for short-term predictions at the end of the summer of 2020. The multivariable linear mixed model and the multivariable autoregressive model were compared using an overlapping subset of the datasets (2016-2018). The estimations of infestation pressures, dispersal distance and other predictors, and results from the generation of novel connectivity measures may have implications for the management of the NB aquaculture industry. The results suggest that the current area-wide management structure may need to be revised, and synchronizing mitigation strategies within and among sites could reduce infestation pressure. |
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