Coordinated action: Lice international (Canada (USA), Scotland, Ireland and Norway)

Increased levels of farmed salmonid hosts for parasitic sea lice have raised the question of transfer between farmed and wild sources. The study of distribution and dispersal of sea lice has thus become more important over the last years and key institute s from several countries are currently doing research in this field. Comparative experimental field work and coordinated action on both methods and publishing results will potentially give large synergetic results. The proposed project will do comparative experimental studies on methods used in one or several of the participating countries (sentinel cages, trawling for sea lice larvae and development of dispersal models for sea lice) and coordinate other research efforts done individually through workshop s. Standardised approaches allowing comparison of methods and results across a larger range of environments than found in any one country will allow for development of robust understanding of lice biology, and may help in predicting responses to climate c hange. Further, collaboration on systems with as different scales and environment as in this project could also bring benefits beyond sea lice studies.