The Reddhead – Farmed Salmon

A Threat to the West Coast Salmon Industry

Farmed salmon is becoming a ubiquitous product in every fish market throughout California, the U.S. and the world. Is it different from wild caught salmon? Is it safe to eat? How is it farmed and where? Are land-based fish farms or ocean pens better for the consumer? Should I buy farmed in the U.S.? Canada? Korea? Europe? South America? Australia? Asia? Does it matter? YES! Should we buy it?

That depends on what you know and if you care. These questions and others will be answered in a series beginning next month. The increasing population growth and the popularity of seafood in general, and salmon in particular throughout the world, is putting enormous pressure on the Pacific wild-caught salmon industry and the salmon themselves.

Dave Harris of the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game (Juneau), explained the issues in a August 2016 interview: “Salmon fishing is cyclic in it only lasts a few months of the year. Farmed fish is continuously grown and always available. Fresh frozen[wild salmon] is always best [for flavor and texture] but people want fresh salmon in stores. It could be days old or even pre-frozen.” Since 2007, California’s historic droughts – especially the current five year dry period – endangers Pacific salmon due to fresh water scarcity. Warm waters in streams, rivers and tributaries, kill tens of millions of hatchery-released fingerlings on their way to the ocean. Wild adult salmon cannot reach their spawning grounds. Consequently, the available catch is limited, commercial fishing days and limits are reduced—imperiling the livelihood of the commercial fishing men and women and related businesses. This creates a greater demand for farmed products, which now provide 60 percent of the salmon worldwide. Since the abundance of farmed product makes it cheaper, wild-caught salmon prices have become depressed. “In 1980 Alaskan salmon was $2.50 a pound off the boat. In 2016, it is 70 cents a pound,” according to Tyson Fick, communications director at the Alaska Seafood &Marketing Institute, “Chinook was about $7 a pound in 1980 and now is $3.50 a pound.”

How does the Alaskan salmon industrysurvive? “We export 65-70 percent overseas to be processed and then it returns to be sold. We’re now looking for niche markets which will bring premium prices. Hopefully.”

Seafood farming is the “Wild We”of the twenty-first century. Thousands of salmon and seafood farms were created since the 1970s,and they are multiplying annually. Quality of farming practices and regulations are irregular at best.

Types and quality of fish food, whether pelagic fish or plant-based, often differ because of cost and availability. Excess food and waste, as well as chemicals and additives to combat disease and sea lice, notoriously pollute surrounding waters and affect wild fish in the area. Escapes are common, and farmed Atlantic salmon are capable of infiltrating wild salmonind genomes, compromising local stocks’ ability to fend off environmental changes. It must be noted that Alaska and California do not allow salmon farming. New technology, public demands, governmental scrutiny and industry awareness, are all bringing significant changes to the salmon farming industry. But, there is much more to do.