Farmed salmon practices have many inherent problems such as disease & crowding, toxins, environmental impacts, and the net loss of consumable protein. Wild Alaska Smoked Salmon & Seafood proudly sells only the finest wild caught Alaskan seafood. Here are our reasons why:

Net Pen Crowding & Disease

Most scientists agree that over-crowding in a net pen environment is a recipe for disease. In fact, some researchers go so far as to call salmon farms "pathogen culturing facilities". Salmon are naturally a migratory species and confined fish are exposed to bacteria, parasites and viruses that their wild counterparts never experience. Epidemics in wild fish are extremely rare, because, when pathogens infect, the sick drop out of the school and are eaten by predators. This doesn't happen at a salmon farm and the density of the fish actually promotes the spreading of disease. In such close proximity, the feces of the crowded fish pass over each other's gills. Because the fish are confined and unable to migrate, pathogens accumulate and infection is rampant.

Toxins, Coloring Agents & Antibiotics

According to a study released in January 2004 by the journal Science, consuming more than one serving of farmed fish per month could drastically increase one’s risk of certain cancers. The increased cancer risk is due to farmed salmon containing up to ten times the levels of PCBs and dioxins of wild salmon. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set standards for determining the safe levels of toxins in fish, which farmed salmon regularly exceed. In addition to PCBs and dioxins, farmed salmon also often contain the banned pesticides Toxaphene and Dieldrin. As if the toxins found in farmed salmon aren’t bad enough, coloring agents and antibiotics are also added to farmed salmon feed. Coloring agents are necessary to give farmed salmon the color found naturally in wild fish. Without them, the flesh of farmed salmon would have a pale gray color. Buyers and sellers of farmed fish use a SalmoFan™ to grade the fillet color. Antibiotics are necessary to keep farmed fish healthy in their overcrowded and disease prone pens. In 1998 alone, British Columbia fish farmers used seven tons of antibiotics.

Environmental Impacts

The negative effects of farmed salmon on the environment are numerous. One of the largest problems affecting salmon farms is sea lice. Sea lice are naturally occurring parasites that often grow out of control in the overcrowded conditions of fish farms. Once a farm is infested, wild fish anywhere nearby are likely to also be infected. Waste products generated by fish farms also pose hazards. In British Colombia alone, fish farms produce waste roughly equivalent to a city of half a million people. This raw sewage, as well as antibiotics, uneaten food pellets, and toxic drug residue flow directly into our oceans. In the effort to protect the salmon in fish farms, over 500 harbor seals are shot each year and countless birds and other marine mammals also perish when caught in farm nets. Some whales and porpoises have even altered their migratory routes due to acoustic deterrent devices set up at fish farms.

Protein Loss

All salmon are carnivorous which means that fish farmers must feed their salmon other fish in order to make them grow to a marketable size. In order for a fish farmer to produce one pound of farmed salmon, they must feed them two to five pounds of wild fish. In a hungry world such as ours, fish farms actually reduce the ocean’s available protein in order to create a high priced product. Some compare this to feeding chickens to a dog in order to eat the dog. But however you look at it, farmed salmon are not a sustainable resource.

Wild Alaska Smoked Salmon & Seafood encourages all seafood lovers to consider these farmed fish issues when choosing your family’s dinner. Remember, Go Wild Seafood!

Wild Alaska Smoked Salmon & Seafood!

Email: Jamie@smoked-fish.com