The team from University College Dublin are being cautious over the development, saying simply that the results have been promising.

This sea louse operates in the same way that parasites affect animals, attaching itself to the fish and the scales, thus causing a decline in the overall health of salmon.

Salmon farming confines large numbers of fish at close quarters, a practice that has provided the parasitic louse with something of a sitting target.

Grace Mulcahy, professor of veterinary microbiology and parasitology at UCD told the Irish Times that this tiny pest costs the Irish salmon farming industry around €670,000 (over half a million pounds sterling) each year, with losses of around €200 million annually worldwide.

Professor Mulcahy added: "It burrows in and causes little erosions or bleeding to appear, and that progressively affects the wellbeing of the fish – they don’t put on weight as quickly, they don’t feed so much, there are unsightly changes to their skins, and if you see them in the supermarket, you wouldn’t be as inclined to go for them."

The other fear is that the sea louse can spread over into the sea and rivers, affecting wild salmon as well.The plan is to try to develop a vaccine against the sea louse. She said using a vaccine to prevent the parasites from taking hold in the first place would be more environmentally friendly that using chemicals to treat the fish after the parasites have taken hold.

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