Salmon need a voice. Wild Atlantic salmon will go extinct within our lifetimes without a big change. And they won’t go extinct alone. Their disappearance would throw the natural world out of balance. You see, over 130 species and ecosystems depend on the salmon.
That’s why they are known as an “indicator species” – their wellbeing indicates the health of our planet (honeybees are another example of this). So, protecting salmon is protecting Earth.
Today, most breeding grounds for salmon (like Northeast United States, Norway, Scotland, and Canada) no longer have healthy salmon populations. Iceland is the only place left in the world where the populations are not yet decimated. We must protect our last stronghold.
This system is all about producing salmon quickly and cheaply and only considers the farms’ profits, not the health of the species, the consumers eating it, or the ecosystem.
Open-net ocean pen salmon farming (ONP) is one of the most toxic and unsustainable agricultural practices in the world today.
Each pen is an enclosed floating cage beneath the water’s surface that houses roughly 200,000 lab harvested baby Atlantic salmon – all genetically modified to grow fatter and quicker than wild Atlantic salmon.
Ocean-farmed Atlantic salmon are suffering and sick. Because of the inhumane conditions inside the nets, roughly 20% of the fish die before they can be harvested.
Pens are so overcrowded that the fish can barely move or breathe, trapped in fecal-infested water with little-to-no flow.
This environment attracts e-coli infections, viruses, and swarms of sea lice. To try and prevent the fish from dying prematurely, the farms dump heaps of toxic pesticides and antibiotics into the pens.
ONP are causing the destruction of wild salmon in two major ways: Sea lice and interbreeding.
Here’s what’s happening: Most ONP are placed close to the migratory paths of wild Atlantic salmon.
And trigger-warning: As precious young wild salmon (called smolts) migrate into the ocean, many of them get swarmed by sea lice coming from ONP that eat them alive.
In other cases, ocean-farmed salmon escape pens and breed with wild salmon, resulting in the creation of a new invasive “frankenstein” species. These weak hybrid salmon are not suited to survive in the wild and leave wild Atlantic salmon with little chance of long-term survival.
Surprisingly, salmon sushi does not originate from Japan. Raw salmon didn’t even enter Japan’s market until 1995. And salmon sushi is now one of the most popular dishes in the country and has spread to the rest of the world. How? A marketing campaign to sell farm-raised salmon.
Basically, Norway started farming salmon in the 1970’s and overproduced. They had to find a way to sell more salmon and “Project Japan” was born.
If you want to eat salmon, land-raised is a great alternative. Land-raised salmon are raised in more ethical environments, cannot escape and disrupt wild populations, and are way better for your health. They don’t contain the high levels of PCBs and toxins that ocean-farmed salmon have from all the chemical treatments.
For healthier, land-raised salmon, here’s a company doing things the right way: Superior Fresh: Superior Fresh.
And I want to caution anybody from thinking that eating wild-caught salmon is the healthier alternative. By eating wild-caught Atlantic salmon, you’re contributing to the extinction of this endangered species. But, unfortunately, the truth is, it probably isn’t wild anyway. 90% of the “wild” Atlantic salmon we consume is actually from ONP. It’s sad, but true.
Another great salmon alternative is wild-caught Arctic char. It tastes similar and is not as overfished and at risk as salmon.
Thanks for taking the time to learn about this important issue. These are not fun facts, but once you have them, you can make more informed decisions (and hopefully help a friend to do so too). By spreading the word, signing the petition, and choosing sustainable seafood options, we have the power to change this.
