Farmed Salmon: Destructive and Disturbing (Video)

As part of the Pure Salmon Campaign's Global Action Week this week, the organization will host on its website a short documentary film by Canadian filmmaker Damien Gillis. "Farmed Salmon Exposed" is a graphic, disturbing, but important look at the very common and destructive practices of the largest salmon farming operations in the world.

Salmon farming is one of the single most environmentally destructive methods of food production. Unlike land-based feedlots, which are nominally "responsible" for disposing of the waste, excrement, and dead animals, salmon farms send it directly into the ocean. The densely packed captive salmon also escape in large numbers into the wild, taking with them a host of contagious diseases combined with a genetically identical makeup, thereby weakening superior wild salmon when interbreeding occurs. Not to mention that antibiotic use is rampant, feeding conversion is ineffective (three or more pounds of feed needed for one pound of salmon), and the pinkish color we expect (normal in wild salmon) is due to the use of artificial colorings.

Pure Salmon is also using the Vancouver Olympics as a means to bring attention to the destruction caused by salmon farming. The vast majority of industrial salmon farms in British Columbia are owned by Norwegian corporations. And as Norway is usually a strong contender in the Winter Olympics, the King will be attending as a spectator. A letter will be delivered to the King asking him to put pressure on Norwegian salmon companies to invest in better technologies and move away from their current practices. You can help by contributing your name to this petition demanding better salmon farming practices.

And if you're ready to cut farmed salmon out of your diet, check out the very informative guides at both the Blue Ocean Institute and the Monterey Bay Aquarium for ideas on sustainable seafood. The bottom line with commercial salmon is this: Wild Alaskan is your best choice; unless fish is freshwater coho salmon or is specifically labeled as wild from the U.S. West Coast, it's probably farmed Atlantic salmon. But there are many good sustainable alternatives. So check out the guides before you head out to the restaurant or market, sign the petition, and help change these destructive practices.

Photo: Sam Beebe