Reducing the impact of Kudoa thyrsites in farmed Atlantic salmon in British Columbia

Description

This proposal constitutes a three-year multidisciplinary research program with two major objectives.

• To elucidate risk factors associated with soft-flesh and Kudoa thyrsites infection: considerable variation within the industry exists with respect to both the occurrence of K. thyrsites and the incidence of Soft-Flesh Syndrome (SFS). This portion of the research will identify practices, both on the farm and in the processing-to-retail chain, that increase the risk of infection and its consequences in farmed stock.
• To Understand Transmission Biology: The life cycle and identity of the presumed intermediate host of K. thyrsites is not known. Identification of the intermediate host and the putative actinospore stages that are infective to fish will permit more systematic analyses of the factors that regulate infection in farmed fish. This, and knowledge of parasite pathogenesis in the fish will further influence the adoption of appropriate fish husbandry and control strategies.

The activities of the project include the identification of husbandry and processing risk factors and the extent to which they are associated with the development of soft-flesh, developing diagnostic tools for determining the abundance of Kudoa-infected benthic invertebrates adjacent to salmon farms, developing diagnostic tools for the detection of the infectious water borne parasite stage and assessing the efficacy of peptide and/or recombinant vaccine candidates.

Program Name

Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Program (ACRDP)

Year(s)

2001 - 2004

Ecoregion(s)

Pacific: Strait of Georgia

Principal Investigator(s)

Simon Jones
Email: JonesS@pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca