Farming salmon creates several environmental issues: 1. It creates an environment with high levels of diseases that threaten wild fish populations. Diseases spread from salmon farms, particularly sea lice, which attack juvenile wild salmon. 2. The high concentration of farmed salmon causes environmental damage around open-sea pens from fish waste and feces. This pollution destroys ocean life and habitat. 3. It relies on catching wild fish as feed, which contributes to the decline of species like forage fish and puts pressure on ecosystems. Several pounds of wild fish are needed to produce one pound of farmed salmon.

1. 3 FACTS ABOUT FARMED SALMON
THAT WILL SHOCK YOU

3. When you shop for salmon, or any seafood for that matter, do you
consider the environmental impact that purchase has? Certain wild
commercial fisheries are sustainably managed to protect against
overfishing, habitat damaging fishing methods, and pollution. Of course,
alternatively, certain fisheries are not managed at all and contribute to
population decline of many species.
You may assume that farmed fish would take pressure off of the wild
fish. Unfortunately, the vast majority of farmed salmon are raised in at-
sea pens. Something that might surprise you is that farming carnivorous
fish (such as salmon and trout) at sea:
1.Creates an environment with unheard of levels of many diseases
that put wild fish at risk.
2.Destroys the environment around the open-sea pens or where the
highly concentrated feces ends up deposited.
3.Is the major cause of decline of some wild species that are used in
the feed.

4. A little background:
The distinctions between wild and farmed salmon start at the moment of conception.
Wild salmon are conceived by nature’s method, in the pristine streams and rivers
where salmon have always spawned throughout history. Farmed salmon are bred in a
lab with a limited gene pool, which leads to disease and mutations. This is just the
start of the dramatic differences between the life cycles of farm raised and wild
salmon. Then, one to three years after they hatch, the wild salmon head out to the
open ocean where they will feed on other natural wild fish while traveling vast
distances as they develop into strong, adult, salmon. After one to four years in the
ocean they will return to the exact same stream or river that they were born in to
spawn. In comparison, once the farmed salmon hatch, they are placed in a pen and
with 500,00 to a 1,000,000 or more other salmon fry.
They are fed cheap, mass-produced food containing high amounts of toxins, chemical
pollutants, pesticides and antibiotics. The farmed salmon grow into adults while
being fed that unappetizing diet while trapped in pens with an absurdly high
concentration of diseases and feces surrounding them. Being in a pen, they never get
away from these toxic conditions at all. Not surprisingly, many salmon farms are also
located in some of the most polluted areas in the world too… You’ll have to guess for
yourself whether the chicken or egg came first in this scenario…

5. 1. Farming salmon creates an environment with
unheard of levels of many diseases that put
wild fish at risk.
A big environmental threat that salmon farms create is
diseases. The diseases salmon farms cause spread to a wide
range of wild fish species. One of the worst threats that
farmed fish pose for wild salmon is sea lice. Scientists for
CARR, a highly respected science committee, did studies and
research that showed that sea lice from salmon farms pose
enormous risk to juvenile wild salmon. Sea lice grow rapidly
on salmon farms and manage to spread to waters surrounding
the pens. The worst outcome that the sea lice disease poses
for the environment is that the disease attacks baby wild
salmon as they head out to sea.

6. 2. Salmon farms destroys the environment around the
open-sea pens or where the highly concentrated
feces ends up deposited:
Since salmon farms are jam-packed with 500,000 or more
farmed salmon in such a small area, fish feces and waste
feed causes diseases not only on the ocean bottom but also
surrounding waters. The high densities of the farmed
salmon create an ideal breeding area for the sea lice. The
feces and waste compiling leads to non-native bacterial
diseases starting to grow and spread also. These diseases
contribute to destroying the natural ocean life under the
pens and in the surrounding areas. The damage is especially
evident in areas of shallow waters, or areas that do not flush
well.
Cont..

7. There are more environmental negative impacts caused by fish
farming than diseases and bacteria. Oxygen needed by other
species to survive is smothered away near salmon farms by the
layer of feces, waste, and from the competition from the
unnaturally high density of farmed salmon. Ocean currents
sometimes help carry away part of the waste and feces from
fish farms. This is not helpful from an environmental stand point
either though, as farmedanddangerous.org, a website that
provides facts from various sources about salmon farms,
explains: “…The bulk of waste may be carried away from the
farm site by ocean currents (the majority of salmon farms are
not even near a strong current), but this too ends up collecting
in another place and causing localized pollution.” It is estimated
that the average salmon farm pollutes the water with waste and
feces as much as the (unprocessed) sewage of a city of 10,000
people would (www.wildpacificsalmon.com).
Cont..

8. Clams and rockfish are some of the other species threatened by
salmon farms. “Clam beaches… in the Broughton Archipelago
(the area with the highest concentration of salmon farms in
British Columbia, Canada) have been destroyed by the
accumulation of black muck and sludge that has been attributed
to salmon farm waste.” The pollution from salmon farms has
also been shown to increase the levels of mercury in rockfish.
Those contaminants have also increased parasites, tumors, and
lesions on other ground fish near salmon farms. Chemicals and
antibiotics used in salmon farms in attempt to decrease
diseases, parasites, other problems farmed salmon struggle
with, and increase the speed at which the farmed salmon
grows. These chemicals damage other marine life even further.
Buying farmed salmon is supporting and industry that causes
lots of damage to nature.

9. 3. Farmed Salmon is the major cause of decline of some
wild species that are used in the feed:
Wild fish species that are made into feed for farmed fish are also in
danger, because of the increase in fish farms around the world. These
wild fish are crucial for their local eco-system, but are usually caught by
habitat damaging fish trawls half way around the world from the salmon
farms. It takes over three pounds (with other studies saying as high as
10 due to unconsumed feed sinking) of other wild fish to produce one
pound of harvested farmed salmon (www.puresalmon.org). That three
pounds of feed species does not include the wasted feed that escapes
through the pens, and pollutes the ocean floor with layers of the excess
feed that was dumped into the ocean. Many areas around the world
have been over fished for these feed species while trying to keep up
with the demand from salmon farms. Usually the wild salmon feed
species from fish farms come from third world countries where it is easy
to manipulate the industry to produce at an unsustainable level. The
farmed salmon industry commonly tries to cover this up by reporting
ratios of dried feed to wet salmon produced.

10. What you can do:
Did you learn anything new in this article? Do your friends a
favor and share it with them.
Make sure you always ask waiters, or fish monger, if the
salmon on their menu is farmed or wild caught, and spread
the word of why you prefer wild caught. The one place in the
world that is best known for its sustainably harvested wild
salmon is Alaska. Alaska is so concerned about the
sustainability of their ocean’s resources that they have never
allowed any salmon farming in the state.