Living Oceans is opposed to salmon farming as it is currently practiced because it threatens wild salmon and
healthy ocean ecosystems
. Salmon farms harm the environment by spreading diseases and parasites to wild fish, releasing waste and chemicals into the ocean, not being able to prevent farmed fish escapes and causing marine mammal deaths.
British Columbia has over 100 open net-cage fish farms. These industrial farms are large floating mesh net-cage pens located in sheltered bays along the coast. The farms cause huge environmental impacts that will only increase if the open net-cage industry continues to expand.
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| B.C.'s 100 plus open-net-cage salmon farms produce waste roughly the same as the raw sewage from a city of half a million people. |
Salmon farms claim to reduce the pressure on wild salmon by supplying farmed fish for the marketplace. In reality the farms threaten the survival of wild salmon.
The government and industry would like to see B.C. farmed salmon production double within the next 10 years -- that means twice the toll on our oceans, wild fish and coastal livelihoods .
Salmon farm facts
- Salmon farms can hold over a million fish in an area the size of four football fields
- The biomass of farmed salmon at an average farm site equals 480 Asian bull elephants - that is 2,400 tonnes of eating, excreting livestock
- It takes two to five kilos of wild fish (used in feed) to produce one kilo of farmed salmon
- Industry data shows billions of sea lice eggs are produced on salmon farms in B.C.'s Broughton Archipelago where tiny wild salmon enter the ocean
- Infection with just one sea lice can kill a wild juvenile pink salmon
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The vast majority of B.C. farmed salmon are exported to the U.S.
Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform
Living Oceans Society is a founding member of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR). The coalition was formed in 2000 by environmental groups, scientists and First Nations to protect wild salmon, coastal ecosystems and communities from destructive salmon-farming practices.CAAR is engaged in researching the impacts of open net-cage salmon farms, communicating the risks to coastal ecosystems and communities, and working towards solutions such as the development of closed containment technology.
Closed containment systems offer a viable alternative to open net-cage salmon farms. CAAR is encouraging government and industry to support a B.C. wide transition to this more sustainable technology.
