Environmental Quality Standards for Aquaculture Avermectins

Updated toxicity data for Emamectin benzoate (EMB) and Ivermectin (IVER) informs new Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for salmon aquaculture. The analysis infers water acute EQS values of 24.9 ng/L for EMB and 8.04 ng/L for IVER using Species Sensitivity Distributions. Researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada published the findings in 2024.

Use Cases

• Compare inferred water acute EQS values (24.9 ng/L for EMB, 8.04 ng/L for IVER) to monitor regulatory compliance.
• Analyze the deterministic versus Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) approaches used to derive chronic water and sediment benthic EQS values.
• Assess the relevance of sediment benthic EQS values (131 ng/kg for EMB, 290 ng/kg for IVER) given the compounds' low solubility and sorption tendency.

Strengths

• Derives specific, peer-reviewed EQS values for two critical aquaculture pharmaceuticals, published in Marine Pollution Bulletin (2024).
• Applies both deterministic and Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) model averaging methodologies for standard inference.
• Focuses on compounds with defined environmental behavior (low solubility, high sorption), making sediment EQS particularly relevant.

Limitations

• The underlying dataset of toxicity studies used for the EQS calculations is not provided, limiting reproducibility.
• The analysis is specific to two avermectins (EMB and IVER) in the context of Atlantic salmon aquaculture, limiting generalizability.
• No information on the sample size or structure of the raw toxicity data used in the SSD modeling is available.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 201, 2024.

Collection Method

Review and update of toxicity data, with EQS inferred using deterministic and Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) approaches.

Time Range

Publication year 2024.

Freshness

Data was last updated on the platform in March 2026, based on a 2024 publication.

Geography

Context is salmon aquaculture; specific geographic scope of underlying studies is not detailed.