Running the gauntlet of PAthogens and ClimatE (PACE): impacts from infectious diseases on wild fish in the high north

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2020

End date

12/31/2023

Budget

1,228,770 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Wild salmon has been an integral part of the Norwegian cultural heritage ever since people inhabited the river banks of the coast of Norway. Salmon farming has during the last 40 years gone from being a side business of coastal farmers, to one of Norway´s biggest exporting industries. This has led to an enormous increase in salmon in coastal waters of Norway, which has dramatically altered the disease dynamics between farmed and wild salmon. The effect of the parasitic sea lice is well documented. In contrast, knowledge about other pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and microparasites are poorly documented. In Norway, new restrictions on fish farming have been enforced in southwestern Norway due to the well documented impacts from sea lice on wild salmonids. In Northern-Norway the effects of sea lice on wild fish have till now been minimal, because of the relative low density of fish farms in the north and low water temperatures. However, this is about to change. Both temperature (because of climate change) and fish farm production (because of restrictions in the southwest and high demand for farmed salmon) are increasing the northernmost areas of the Norwegian coast. These areas inhabit some of the largest remaining wild Atlantic salmon populations in the world. Wild salmon in the northern Norway has never been exposed to high infestation pressure, and the question now is how these populations will cope with change that is coming. In this research project we aim answer (1) what type of pathogens is present in wild populations of salmon has along the coast of Norway (2) how does the immune system of these populations vary from north to south (3) how are the behavior and spawning success of wild salmon and sea trout affected by these pathogens