NYC Seafood Investor Forum: Benchmark CEO says sea lice solution getting closer
The estimated annual cost to the industry of sea lice is more than $500 million.
Malcom Pye, CEO of Benchmark, a leading aquaculture technology company that supplies health, genetics and advanced nutrition technologies, put the impact of disease in aquaculture into perspective at the recent IntraFish Seafood Investor Forum in New York.
According to Pye, the estimated annual cost to the industry of sea lice is more than $500 million (€423.9 million), while the impact of pancreatic disease (PD) in Norway alone cost companies $250 million (€212 million).The estimated annual cost of Salmonid Rickettsial Septicaemia (SRS) to the industry is $300 million (€254.4 million).
But Pye said the industry is close to solving the sea lice problem that is costing farmers millions and damaging the public perception of the aquaculture industry.
"I think we're a lot closer than it seems," said Pye. "I think the opportunity with sea lice is going to be the combining of amazing technology coming through the system now."
The combination of vaccines and genetic work in breeding salmon could provide a new effective tool in the fight against sea lice as well.
The company is producing stock partially resistant to sea lice and each year the breeding program tightens and improves the level of resistance, he said.