Farmed Atlantic Salmon

1.
Waste feed and faecal matter from farmed salmon lead to nutrient pollution and a decrease in biodiversity around salmon cages.

2.
Farmed salmon transfer disease and parasites to wild salmon and other fish leading to population declines.

3.
Marine species are taken from the oceans to feed farmed salmon and put further pressure on wild stocks. It takes between 2.5 to five kilograms of wild fish to produce one kilogram of farmed salmon.

Most farmed salmon raised in Canada are Atlantic salmon, including in the Pacific waters of British Columbia where the species is not native.

Farmed salmon are harvested from their open-net marine cages after about 36 months, weighing about 4.5 kilograms.

Farmed salmon generally share their cage with over 10,000 other salmon.

In captivity, they feed mainly on fishmeal and fish oil from “trash fish ” and wild caught species.

Salmon in open-net cages face predators such as seals and marine birds that try to break through the net often causing fish to escape.