Get the facts

Atlantic salmon have declined by 70% in Scottish rivers since 2000. Industrial salmon farming is one of the causes linked to this decline.

Salmon farming in Scotland has grown exponentially since the 1970s. In 2021, the Scottish salmon industry produced just over 205,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon; this is expected to double in the coming years, with an aim of producing 400,000 tonnes per year by 2030.

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The overview

Often touted as an environmentally-friendly alternative to other forms of protein, in reality industrial salmon farming wreaks havoc on the surrounding environment; has severe costs for the planet in terms of resources and carbon use; and facilitates the immense suffering of millions of fish.

These issues apply to all types of farmed salmon, whether they are certified, so-called ‘organic’, sold fresh or smoked. Certification labels are no guarantee for sustainability – breaches of their standards are frequently ignored, and almost never result in a loss of accreditation for the farm.

 

Decline in the estimated number of salmon returning to the Scottish coast. Data are taken from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas Working Group on North Atlantic Salmon.

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Environmental

Open-net salmon farms compromise the integrity of
the marine and freshwater ecosystems of Scotland.

  • Salmon farms are plagued by parasitic sea lice, which disperse from farms and infect wild salmon and sea trout, sometimes with fatal consequences.
  • Chemicals used on salmon farms are lethal to other types of sea life – in particular lobsters, crabs and prawns
  • In 2021 the Scottish salmon farming industry used 8.9 tonnes of antibiotics – the only livestock industry to report increasing usage trends
  • Scottish salmon farms dump untreated waste, including fish faeces, into surrounding waters
  • Combined, Scottish salmon farms produce the same amount of waste as half of the Scottish human population.

Sustainability

The production of salmon comes at a significant
price for the planet.
  • Farmed salmon are carnivorous fish; they are fed on a diet containing wild-caught fish, soy and a pigment called Astaxanthin to colour the fillets.
  • It takes much more than 1kg of wild fish to produce 1kg of farmed Scottish salmon
  • 90% of these wild fish, such as anchovies, mackerel and sardines, could be eaten directly
  • Many of these wild fish are sourced globally from low-income countries, which is problematic for food security and the industry’s carbon footprint
  • The industry is increasingly using so-called ‘cleaner fish’ such as wrasse to treat sea lice infestations. These fish are often taken from ecosystems across the UK, and killed at the end of the production cycle. They are also carnivorous, so also require feed.

Welfare

Salmon farming is a form of intensive farming, with
immense welfare issues.
  • On average, over 25% of Scottish farmed salmon die before harvest. This would not be tolerated in other types of farming
  • In 2022, the Scottish industry reported over 16.5 million farmed salmon died prematurely
  • As average sea temperatures rise, so too do potentially fatal conditions and diseases that damage the fish’s gills, effectively suffocating them
  • Treatments for sea lice are polluting, brutal and cruel – and in some cases ineffective
  • The farms act as a breeding ground for parasitic sea lice, which graze on salmon skin and mucus
  • Hundreds of thousands of wrasse are taken from the wild and caged with the farmed salmon every year. Millions of these ‘cleaner fish’ die, or are culled at the end of the production cycle.

Eating Atlantic salmon from open net salmon farms is the wrong choice for our health and the health of our environment. Responsible consumers should avoid these inhumanely, unsustainably raised fish.

Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins

Authors of Salmon Wars

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As consumers we are entitled to know the food we buy, the food we are served and the food that is supposed to nourish us is healthy, clean and actually good for us and the environment. Sustainable farming is needed - but those producers have an obligation to ensure not only the health of our food but also the environment.
Jonathon Leonard
Jonathon LeonardAdvocate
As an east coast Tasmanian local I have personally witnessed the toxic impact of industrial salmon farming on the health of our onshore waterways since the mid 1990s. The shallow reefs and marine life surrounding fish farms are choking under a layer of pollution. We choose marine biodiversity over second rate salmon and don’t serve farmed salmon on our Tasmanian produce menu.
Ben Rae
Ben RaeTasmanian E-bike Adventures
We live on beautiful Bruny Island. We source fresh, local produce for our business - Bruny Island Wild. We have watched the destruction and protested the growth of outdated, Salmon Feedlot practices for years. We continue to actively inform our customers about caged Tasmanian Salmon and why such a product will never be served at our restaurant.
Kris and Ray Jones
Kris and Ray JonesOwner and Chef at Bruny Island Wild
Open net fish farming in Tasmania is unsustainable. Salmon and ocean trout are farmed in coastal waterways using industrial farming practices and come at a significant cost to the environment. As a chef, I believe I have a responsibility to serve produce that has been farmed ethically and sustainably, and to educate and promote the importance of small-scale, local and sustainable farming.
Stephen PeakHead Chef, The Agrarian Kitchen
It’s time we all woke up and really started investing in our seas, to see where our seafood comes from and how it is farmed or caught! People buy the best premium farmed grass fed organic ethically raised beef , pork , sheep why not fish.
Simon FurleyChef, Embers Wood Fire Dining
We have never used farmed salmon or ocean trout at McHugos. The industry has outgrown what may have had potential to be a well managed resource. Failure to protect the environment is my primary concern. The arguments regarding these products being a sustainable source of protein to feed the world need to be reevaluated, there needs to be more accountability for impacts on wild fish populations and the waterways used for recreation.
Tom WestcottChef and Owner at Tom McHugo's, Hobart
I actively boycott all Tasmanian farmed salmon and ocean trout. These ‘frankenfish’ are inhumanly farmed, have very little nutritional value and are having a devastating and irreversible impact on many of lutruwita’s marine ecosystems. The scale is already unsustainable and set to grow exponentially.
Adam JamesRough Rice, Nipaluna
We have refused to use farmed salmon or ocean trout for the last ten years.
Martino CrippsOsteria Petty Sessions
There is nothing sustainable about the exploitation of any product, especially knowing that the farming of said product is destroying the environment it’s farmed in. The only salmon served at Vanbone restaurant is cocky/australian a wonderfully sustainable school fish which in my option is a wonderful eating fish if treated correctly.
Tim HardyChef, Van Bone, Tasmania
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News
“I discovered that an industry parading as clean, green and healthy is in so many ways the exact opposite; that it’s claims of world’s best practice and high environment standards are no more than slick marketing to hide a legacy of environmental destruction, bullying, grossly-inadequate regulation and questionable political influence, in service of producing a highly-artificial but profitable protein.”
Richard Flanagan
Richard FlanaganAuthor of Toxic
Eating Atlantic salmon from open net salmon farms is the wrong choice for our health and the health of our environment. Responsible consumers should avoid these inhumanely, unsustainably raised fish.
Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins
Douglas Frantz and Catherine CollinsAuthors of Salmon Wars
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Time is up for global industrial salmon marine feedlots

Worldwide, communities are rejecting an arrogant, unsustainable and polluting industry wreaking havoc on ecosystems.

It’s time to end it in Tasmania

What can you do?

NOFF (Neighbours of Fish Farming)

ABN 473 096 904 52
Tasmanian Incorporated Association Number IA11921

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