Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 215: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the measures in place to control the incidence of sea lice in fish farms; the conditions in place that govern such incidence; the extent of monitoring of sea lice in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23117/05]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the extent of inspections carried out by his Department to monitor the extent and proliferation of sea lice affecting wild salmon stocks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23124/05]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he has had reports of an increased incidence of sea lice adversely affecting stocks of wild Atlantic salmon smolts; if his attention has been drawn to the extent of damage to these stocks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23125/05]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 215, 222 and 223 together.

A national monitoring and control programme for sea lice at marine finfish farms is operated on behalf of the Department by the Marine Institute, in accordance with the Protocol for Sea Lice Monitoring and Control published by the Department of Marine and Natural Resources in 2000.

The programme involves the carrying out of 14 inspections a year at each site containing fish. One inspection is carried out in the period from December to January, two inspections per month are undertaken in the period from March to May and one inspection per month is carried out during the rest of the year. The key purpose of these inspections is to establish whether the lice levels at a site are in excess of the strict trigger levels that are applied in this country. If the appropriate trigger level is exceeded, the operator of the site is required to apply an appropriate treatment with a view to effecting a reduction in the lice levels.

A study of sea lice levels on wild salmon intercepted at sea, several miles from the coast, on their return migration, was carried out in 2003 by the Marine Institute in conjunction with the department of sciences at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. It showed that these fish had an average infestation in the region of ten lice per fish. No evidence has been found of increased mortality due to sea lice in outward migrating salmon smolts. While no studies are available on this subject, the Marine Institute is conducting a multi-year study, the results of which will be published in due course.