Comment on “Salmon Lice Biology, Environmental Factors, and Smolt Behaviour With Implications for the Norwegian Salmon Farming Management System: A Critical Review”

Abstract

Additional points are addressed in the Appendix. As a final note, we highlight the importance of openly disclosing potential conflicts of interests associated with this controversial topic. The review's authors omitted to mention that the reported project “Salmon Tracking 2030” is funded by the aquaculture companies in production areas 3 and 4 in western Norway (https://www.salmontracking.no/om/) and that the first author is a member of the board directors of Nova Sea, a salmon farming company in northern Norway (https://novasea.no/en/om-oss/#styre-og-ledelse).

All authors were responsible in conceptualization and writing – review and editing.

The authors are the current members of the EG of the TLS. Knut W. Vollset is a member of the Norwegian Scientific Advisory Committee for Atlantic Salmon (VRL). Ørjan Karlsen leads the Norwegian surveillance programme for salmon lice on wild salmonids (NALO). Knut W. Vollset, Ørjan Karlsen, Frank Nilsen, and Lars Qviller gave evidence as expert witnesses in a court case in 2021–2022 regarding the TLS.