Get the Facts on Ocean Farmed Salmon

Environment HEALTH Sustainability Animal Welfare Food Insecurity

environment

Sea cages are terrible to life, inside and outside them.

Ocean farms generate tons of plastic waste and dump toxins in the water, damaging and contributing to the destruction of entire ecosystems. It’s also a key factor driving wild Atlantic salmon to extinction.

70%

species decline of wild Atlantic salmon since the 1970s.

Sea cages are crowded and often break, and ocean-farmed salmon interbreeds with wild populations, creating gene pollution and making it harder for the species to survive.  

Chemicals and antibiotics used in these farms leach into the ocean, harming surrounding wildlife and ecosystems.

Sea cages generate tons of plastic waste, and a lot of it is not disposed properly, polluting ocean waters even further.

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health

There’s something fishy about some health claims.

The realities of how ocean-farmed salmon is produced are at odds with the clean, healthy image conveyed to consumers. “Organic?” Salmon labeled as organic can be misleading because it implies USDA Organic certification, but USDA doesn't even regulate aquaculture. 70% of salmon sold today (and 99% of Atlantic salmon on the market) is farmed in crowded sea cages clouded with fecal matter. The fish are fed an unnatural diet, and marketed with misleading labels like ‘organic’ and ‘sustainable’. In the U.S., there is no USDA-approved organic standard for salmon farming. That means consumers have no federally regulated guarantee of what ‘organic salmon’ means on the shelf.

Contaminant levels in farmed salmon are generally higher than in wild salmon.

Trace amounts of the pesticides and other chemicals used in in the sea cages can be found in the flesh of ocean-farmed salmon. 

Studies show that ocean-farmed salmon absorb and retain harmful pollutants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) at levels 16 times higher than wild salmon.

Ocean-farmed salmon also has a different nutritional profile than wild salmon — including more than double the amount of saturated fats.

There are better, healthier and cleaner ways to get omega-3s. Good sources include chia and hemp seeds, quinoa, mussels, mackerel, sardines, anchovies.

SUSTAINABILITY

The industry raises issues even more than they raise their caged fish.

Sourcing food to feed ocean-farmed salmon contributes to the industry’s large carbon footprint and also takes protein off the plates of people in low-income countries.

Communities with coastal economies that rely on tourism and sustainable fishing practices take the hit in their livelihoods when sea cages are installed in the area.

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ANIMAL WELFARE

Image: Patagonia, Artifishal

Conditions in sea
cages are inhumane by any measure.

Sea cages are overcrowded with fish that can barely move and breathe, surrounded by toxins, and their own waste.

Each year, millions of farmed salmon die prematurely from viruses and parasitic infections.

The sea cages also serve as a breeding ground for sea lice that swarm the fecal-infested cages and literally eat the salmon alive, despite ongoing treatment with antibiotics and pesticides.

FOOD INSECURITY

How do you feed this industry?  With perfectly good fish that should never be involved in this.

440

estimated number of smaller wild-caught fish required to raise a single ocean-farmed salmon before harvest.

Giant trawlers off the coast of Africa haul in tons of small fish that are ground into salmon feed. 90% of these wild fish could help feed people on the continent, and tons of fuel could be saved.

It is estimated that 440 smaller wild-caught fish are required to raise a single ocean-farmed salmon before harvest.

LEARN WHY OCEAN-FARMED IS NOT SUSTAINABLE