Natural reservoir for Piscirickettsia salmonis in Norway and Chile.Establishing research cooperation between Norway and Chile.

Norway and Chile are the two leading countries for production of farmed salmonids in the world, and they share many of the same requirements for a successful industrial production. However, they also differ in many factors that may influence on the produc tion success. Salmonids do not occur naturally in Chile (or in the southern hemisphere), while Norway has the strongest natural populations of Atlantic salmon and trout (S trutta) in the world. The aim of this project is to establish cooperation between f ish disease researcher in Chile and Norway. This will be accomplished through a pilot study of possible wild reservoirs for the bacterium, Piscirickettsia salmonis, in fish and parasitic crustacean species surrounding salmon farms in Chile suffering from SRS. P. salmonis which causes high mortalities in Chile is of minor importance in the production of salmon in Norway. A comparison of natural reservoirs in these two countries may give vital information about this bacterium, the infection dynamics and dis ease development.