Effective sea lice control the gentle way!

The SkaMik mechanical delousing system provides effective sea lice control while maintaining good fish welfare, a peer-reviewed article published in the Norwegian Veterinary Journal finds.

The SkaMik 1.5 delousing system uses a combination of soft rotating brushes and low-pressure water nozzles to remove sea lice, without use of temperate water, chemicals or medication. In the latest issue of the peer-reviewed journal published by The Norwegian Veterinary Association researchers Aoife K. Maloney Westgaard, Silje Stroem Stensby, Fredrik Staven and Marianne Kraugerud has examined fish welfare, behavior and effect when treating salmon with SkaMik1,5. Their findings document very low impact on fish stress levels , no gill damage and low mortality rate for salmon treated with the SkaMik 1.5 delousing system. The fish commence feeding immediately after delousing and suffer minimal growth loss. Well documented tests and more than 1 million tonnes of treated salmon, also shows that SkaMik 1.5 is very effective. The system removes salmon lice regardless of its life cycle stage, thereby reducing infection pressure on farmed and wild fish. The mechanical delousing system can be used on fish of all sizes. The system is scalable and is customized to deliver the desired capacity pr hour. The largest system delivered so far, treat up to 600 metric tons pr hour. Each fish spends in average 1.5 seconds in the delousing system. SkaMik 1.5 has an average effect on 95% on all sea lice stages, does not use or emit chemicals, and it has a 100% collection and destruction rate for lice. In Norway the market demand for SkaMik ́s solutions soared in 2021. For the producer, Norwegian technology company SkaMik AS, sales increased by a fourfold. In January 2022 the SkaMik delousing system also made its debut in Canada, for Grieg Seafood BC Ltd.