Marine biologist weighs in on the farmed salmon vs wild salmon debate 

I worked in the Scottish salmon industry for 21 years. We forged all of the paperwork with regard to anti parasite treatments and especially antibiotics. We routinely over medicated and overtreated in the last 6 months before point of processing. I've never eaten or allowed my family to eat farmed salmon or trout.

I have lived in SE Alaska for 44 years. I live on a peninsula with a natural salmon stream at the head of the inner bight of my harbor. We used to have a native Pink and Chum run, Steelhead and a small run of Silvers, along with Dolly Varden Nd Cutthroat Trout. The bay used to be lively during the 70's, 80's and 90's with jumping salmon all summer long, as the various species had different timings for their runs. By 2005 the local salmon hatchery had started ramping up production and we were getting overrun with hatchery fish who were lost and trying to find someplace to spawn. They have almost completely wiped out all the native salmon. They forced a change in the timing of the Pinks that used to be first but now spawn later than the few chum who get in. There are literally no Silvers or Steelheads anymore and some Dollys. The bay used to be very alive with other sea creatures - Dungeness and King crabs, starfish of multiple species, clams, snails, sqid, Herring but now these populations are rare. No influx of life-giving salmon. The bears and eagles don't even get their share and have turned to alternative foods, often detrimental to the duck population. Also, commercial fishermen now stretch their nets almost fully across the whole span of Lynn canal so only a bare minimum of fish escape. I see Salmon hatcheries as a disaster

I'm from Norway. You'd never eat farmed salmon if you saw the destruction the farms wreak on the surrounding fjords with all the lice and parasites.

"Hey, Salmon, we named a color after you!" "Wow, cool! Is it silvery like my skin?"

We lived by a small river in the 60's and 70's, where I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. All through my childhood, when the salmon were spawning, the quantity and variety of fish was mindboggling. We used to joke that you could walk on thier backs to cross the river without getting your feet wet. By 1978 the generations of returning salmon had been decimated by poor logging practices, so that during the peak of spawning season it was difficult to spot a battered old Humpy now and then in the amber waters. The bountiful rainbow assortment of various salmon species was gone. This event helped inform my world-view and turn me into a conservationist. Thank you for your good works.

I asked my my local supermarket lady " Is this salmon wild?" she replied " well, it's not happy".

A very interesting video. I had no idea about the re-stocking of "wild" fish. To be honest, you've hardly scratched the surface with this video. A huge issue is the source of feed for the fish farms. I've witnessed first-hand how the artisanal fishing communities of West Africa have been completely disrupted by the setting up of fishmeal and fish-oil processing plants designed to produce feed for fish farms. Traditionally, these fishing communities relied on the men to go out and fish in large dugout canoes, while mainly the women handled the onshore processing (salting, drying, etc) and sale of the fish to the local and regional communities. In The Gambia, for example, it has been the main source of protein for many years. Everybody got a piece of the action and the community got fed. Introduction of the fishmeal processing plants (many operated by Chinese companies) provides a virtually insatiable demand for the fish, driving down prices, leading to over-fishing and cutting out the on-shore indigenous processing industry. It's also become a divisive issue within the local community. They are also starting to see "fishing disruption 2.0" in which neighbouring states and the Chinese companies are deploying large trawlers to improve the efficiency of their fishing, adding further to depletion, and further marginalising the local industry. I read that it takes roughly 10kg of fish to produce 1kg of fishmeal, and 10kg of fishmeal to rear 1kg of farmed salmon; a 100:1 conversion ratio. Since we discovered this, two years ago, we haven't eaten any salmon in our household. We are fortunate to live in the UK where there are plenty of alternative indigenous sources of oily fish, such as mackerel and herring from the sea and brown trout from the rivers, as well as white fish such as haddock and cod. I think a large part of the problem is that a product that used to be a luxury and eaten on special occasions has now become a weekly staple, due to fish-farming practices driving down prices. People justify this on the basis that they are eating "higher quality'` food as we become more prosperous. This is nonsense. It's not higher quality food; it's mass-produced trash with a luxury halo around it.

Thanks for doing the work Chantel! This was truly an amazing and thought provoking video. And well done for hitting almost a million views! Pretty sure it will get there soon.

Alaskan here, born and raised in the salmon industry. Here’s an option for you to not have to remove salmon from your diet all together. -Look for a cannery in an area of Alaska that isn’t supported with hatcheries and buy your fish from them directly. All canneries I know of offer direct sales to consumers or you can find a fishmonger in that same community and purchase from them. My biggest recommendation is Troll caught (not by trolls but Trollers 😅, that’s a fishing style and boat type) in southeast Alaska, Juneau to Ketchikan. They are individually caught and treated as prizes. Thank you for a very thoughtful and researched opinion.

The sea floor in the sea lochs in Scotland are being destroyed underneath the cages. When the storms come, sometimes cages are damaged and the salmon escape. They often have lice and are weak and floppy as opposed to their wild counterparts. They then interbreed so the wild ones are being weakened. I lived on the shores of a loch in the NW Highlands of Scotland and saw the destruction first hand.

We came to the same conclusion recently and have eliminated salmon from our diet completely.

I visited a local restaurant here in the Napa Valley, California and saw a salmon entree on their menu. I asked the waiter "Is your salmon fresh or farmed?" He replied, "it's both - it's fresh . . . from the farm."

I live in the Pacific Northwest in salmon country. We eat wild caught salmon about once per month. They have removed some of the dams in our region to improve salmon runs and are working to improve the streams for the salmon and to replant many of the native plants that existed in the region to restore the ecosystem. I am hopeful that things will improve.

My cousin owns a fish processing plant and he told me never, never buy or eat farmed salmon. The Norwegian farmed salmon (that's most of what we get) swims in a large bay that is completely polluted. There is no way for fresh water to get in and the polluted water to get out. Its filled with fish waste from millions of fish. I will go with Cousin Arnie's recommendation.

Two further notes about farmed salmon: millions of tons of smaller species of fish are harvested to make fishmeal. 1) 90% of that harvest could be consumed directly instead of a 25% conversion to salmon by weight. 2) fishmeal also contains soy and grain that has been treated with fertilizers, pesticides, etc and they are concentrated into the salmon.

Q: What kind of salmon should I be eating? A: Don't eat salmon.... Wow thanks

I live in New Zealand and the main source of salmon is farmed in hydro electric feeding canals. These drain the Southern Alps and are pure h2o which flows through the pens . I was a cook for most of my life ,here and mainly the States and Canada, the only farmed salmon I eat is this type of farmed fish . much healthier than semi-still fjord water or the onshore farms or the bays or "calm spots" in the ocean. A truly healthy farm needs a lot of water flowing through it to remove the poop and other dropped items.

Hello and thank you for taking up this topic. I fish commercially for salmon in Bristol Bay in Alaska. I am proud of being part of that fishery - since my family started fishing there in 1959. Our fishery has its challenges, but sustainability isn't one of them. The fishery is managed by biologists whose first priority is sustainability of the resource and second priority is the maximum benefit of Alaskans (which also benefits others). The biologists closely track the salmon return each season and allow the fleet to fish only if the return exceeds what is needed for sustainability. Our fishery has been certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Check it out! You might be surprised. You might even decide it's OK to eat salmon. Although the fact that you live in South Africa might make it less sustainable from your perspective because of the transportation burden, but as a fishery, I think we're doing pretty well. Your thoughts?

Thank you for a very informative video. What fish do you consider safe and sustainable and are still part of your diet ?

A few years ago I was going buy some wild caught salmon at a popular store in the US. They had many worms crawling out of them. I have always known that they were there but had never seen them.

I was raised in Alaska and have eaten lots of (then) wild salmon. This store stuff does not even taste good and we don't eat it. Glad to find out why.

The one misstatement I caught was that the omega fatty acids found in salmon can be found in plant sources. While true to a degree, nearly all omegas found in plants come in forms that the body must convert into the more desirable form the body needs, and it can only convert a rather small amount at a time. So yes, chow down on omega-3-rich plants. Just don't expect the body's natural conversion capability to come anywhere near the quantity that best benefits our bodies. It's really a biological back-up system for when animal sources are scarce. The situation is very similar to the complication of the various, slightly different molecules that we lump together as this or that vitamin, over-simplifying that the body prefers or expects certain versions more than others, therefore some being more bioavailable than others, and occasionally some forms that can be detrimental.

Thank you for the informative summary. It will be a rare occasion that I eat salmon in the future, even though I live in the Pacific NW. We all simply need to start consuming less of everything.

Thanks for researching all of this. Very informative & unbiased. Helps me a lot in my decisions.

Good solid reporting, articulate and well researched. One thing you didn't cover was what goes into the pellet feed of farmed salmon which could be a whole episode by itself.

Thank you for taking the time to do the research and share the info. It’s been enlightening!!

It's been more than 20 years since reading one of David Suzuki's books that I gave up Salmon entirely. I'm glad that BC is phasing out open pen farms, it can't happen fast enough, and I thank you so much for making this excellent video to share this information.

Thank you for your input. It was very informative. Thank you I didn’t know a lot of this information.

Thank you so much for providing this - I wasn't aware of all those background occurrences.

Very good video. Thank you. I respect your opinion and advice. Please keep your wonderful videos coming.

Thanks so much for the research and sharing the info! Cutting down consumption immediately. I am a huge lover of salmon but now I know what info to look for on the packaging, I only want to support what's right.

I used to eat salmon almost exclusively... likely almost ALL I ate was farmed. THANKFULLY I've switched to sardines... after seeing this video I'm glad I did and will continue to use them as my primary source of Omega-3's and other shared benefits to salmon!! Great video!

I've talked to a person who has personally seen the destruction caused by salmon fish farms in Canada. His account of scuba diving beneath the farm enclosures, which is now considered trespassing by the fish farming corporations, was incredibly disturbing. In my mind, having a degree in Biology, fish farming is destroying the ecological web on a multi-species level that will slowly infiltrate other ocean harvesting occupations. If you look back in history of ocean fish harvesting, numerous populations have either been wiped out or reduced to nothing. It's all about money, nothing about sustainability.

Thank you for your honest opinion and your sharing of your knowledge. I've often wondered about these issues.

An excellent breakdown. Confirmed what I suspected. Thanks much. (And you are very easy to watch!).

Thanks for educating me Telly on the complex world of salmon ,and the debate of eating them less frequently or even at all.

Salmond is my go-to fave fish, so I really appreciated hearing all of these points you share in this video. Thank you for the perspectives on farmed fish, kind of shocking but not surprising, I guess.

Thank you for getting straight to the point early. You provided all the information I needed to make a definitive decision within the first minute and 50 seconds of the video. How refreshing. I watched the entire video twice and subscribed for that singular reason alone. You're a rarity. Thank you.

Wow. Thank you so much for such an honest and heartfelt video. I have become quite fond of making sushi and sashimi at home since the covid quarantine times, and salmon is one of my favorites for that. You have challenged me to rethink my seafood choices. I really appreciate how dispassionately and objectively you presented all the facts here.

Fantastic work, thank you for sharing your valuable knowledge!

For the most part, we only eat sockeye salmon from Alaska, which is not available year round. So we only eat it, for a small part of the year.

Beautifully presented, excellent information organization, and a high-integrity based decision, Telly. Thank you for sharing your research and evaluation.

I have been aware of this farmed fish for sometime. So I too have stopped eating farmed salmon and any other fish that is farmed. At least in our markets, they confess that the fish is farmed, a hint to me to not buy. I did not know that wild salmon was not really wild in some instances. Thank you for that. You are performing a great service. Thank you

Great video . thanks! What do you think about land based (circulating) systems that can take care of these issues? You mentioned them in the vid and the book "Salmon wars" also talks about it.I know they are currently sparce and expensive but in the big picture? they can theoretically provide multiple used as well in adeition to healthy and healthful salmon, exploring what can be repurposed salmon waste for various fertilizers etc. In a ideal situation with more localized systems servicing their areas, can that be a solution? fascinating topic. Thanks

Thank you, I think I can follow you in every argument being expressed in your summary at 14:32. I love Salmon as Sushi for example but I think I will at least be able to reduce my consumption drastically and even let it go for a long while. You did not have to convince me to do so with your video since I have always been a deep lover of the sea and its species every since I was a kid. Surely your way of talking to your viewers is very sympathetic and open and I am sure you get a lot of confirmation and positive feedback for your passionate work which I am looking forward to see more of in the future.

Thank you for this informative review. I have two other concerns about fish. 1. What are the health implications of the salmon growing/catching processes? Antibiotics, hormones in land farms, stresses etc. 2. Do wild caught sardines and mackerel have these environmental and health issues?

This was an eye-opener. Thanks. I won't stop eating salmon altogether, but in recent years, I have reduced the amount of salmon I eat in favour of other line-caught fish because I have been dubious about farmed salmon in particular. I had no idea about the hatcheries before seeing this.

As a marine biologist, have u ever been called upon to save a distressed whale on a beach only to discover a Titleist golf ball blocking his blow hole.

I live in the Pacific Northwest. I am also a marine biologist. Our federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is in bed with the salmon farmers. That's why we still have salmon pens. I came to the conclusion, before I watched your video, that eating salmon, either wild-caught or, especially farmed, is not healthy for me or the salmon. I don't eat seafood at all anymore.

Great post my friend. I truly appreciate this information and am ready, willing and able to forgo Salmon.... period. Very happy to have found your channel. Have a great weekend. Charmed

What fish do you suggest as an alternative? Thanks for this information. It confirms my long-held suspicions about farmed fish and definitely makes me think twice about eating salmon at all, at least not until I can source it ethically. One thing that occurs to me is that the by-products from fish farms on land could be used as fertilizer for growing vegetables, couldn't it?

I am from Australia and until recently hubby and I ate a piece of salmon/week. The salmon is farmed from Tassie. Hubby saw an investigation into farmed salmon - what they are feeding them as well as the impact on the environment. As lovers of Tassie, we have been to the salmon farms and listened to the information given by the industry. However, concerns for both our health and the environment have caused us to stop buying salmon. It's sad cause we enjoyed it - but that's what we decided. However, we are heading to Alaska later this year and may be tempted to try a piece or two while ther - wild caught and not huge amounts.

Thanks for your "deep dive" into this topic and excellent presentation. What an eye opener - and so sad! I hate to give up salmon, but I will seriously look at alternatives.

Great diversified research. I live Canada, have followed the 'salmon' thing for decades. The diseases from farmed salmon that are now affecting wild salmon off BC coast is systemic. One of diseases affects muscles, therefore the heart, which in the end compromises wild salmon to get back to home range to breed. I read recently that our wild salmon historically used to push 100lb, now are 30-40lb avg. The testing of farmed salmon from multiple pens up and down BC coast several yrs ago, consistently from every pen, in the lab showcased nightmare scenario. Thx for all the extra data.

Thankyou for the information: I have been paying extra and eating Tesco "organic" salmon in the belief its better for the environment. I also eat line caught fish. I would like to know about yours thoughts on these products?

Thank you for your diligence here. I appreciate your integrity. What a hard decision to make. You are providing good leadership. Don't give up!

Thank you for your research. I'm glad someone is out there to speak for them.

I came into this video not wanting to like what I heard and wanting to disagree, but this was so thoughtful. I came away 100% agreeing with your choice and absolutely agree with the reasoning. Nicely done!

I imagine it depends on the conditions of the farming system. One of my profs used to farm salmon. He'll no longer eat farmed salmon because of the sheer number of worms that cropped up in the farmed variety.

Well put together. Thanks for your input.

A very informative video thank you, I have stopped eating it a year or so ago. A friend of mine catches trout and smokes it himself, I find it very similar in flavour to smoked salmon. Any thoughts on trout being a viable alternative?

Very informative video with really good production. Thank you for making this and taking the time to inform the public about it.

I'm a recreational fisherman and fish the west coast for coho salmon once a year when they are running, keeping the odd one to eat that has an intact adipose fin. I wasn't aware of the severity of problems with fish farming along the inlets of British Columbia until reading Alexandra Morton's book, "Not On My Watch". I highly recommend it and have not bought farmed salmon since. I really appreciate the way you've presented this subject and so I too have subscribed. Nice work! Thank you.

It is really refreshing to find solid information on line. I never had the feeling that I was being "worked" by the presenter. So rare in today's world.

Agree 100%. I've seen SO many other videos and documentaries on the same topic as well. Wanted to check yours out as well. I've stopped eating ocean and stream fish now, + shellfish. Last taste of a Fish Sandwich at Culvers convinced me it was not worth the taste or money and I don't miss it, don't need it, don't want it. Thank you.

Thank you! Great source of information and balanced view of all of pros & cons. I cook salmon occasionally when I entertain since I don’t eat beef nor chicken. I have been eating sardines for just myself, but I will look into seaweed. Could you please do a video on sardines and let us know if they are truly sustainable?

Excellent coverage of this topic that I learned a lot from. I stopped eating all animal products including fish many years ago, and at 71, am pretty healthy. I am now subscriber!

Very helpful, thanks for this clear explanation!

Right up my alley. I love salmon, and being Norwegian I used to eat quite a lot of the famed stuff. Until about 5 years ago, I realized the impact on environment, other species, fish health, wild salmons etc. I still eat salmon, but only from land-based farms. Only moderate amounts are for sale, at a higher price than sea-based farmed salmon. But that is the price I gladly pay. In general, homo sapiens' tampering with nature leads to disaster in most cases. Caveat emptor!

There actually is a difference between getting omega-3s from fish and seaweed or getting them from various plants. The difference is that you won't get the 20-22 carbon fatty acids from flax, walnuts, etc. (their fatty acids will be 18 carbon long). This potentially matters because the chemistry that omega-3s (eicosanoid biosynthesis, etc.) starts out with these longer chains; and, though we do have the enzymes to add carbons a couple at a time, the conversion is extremely rate limited. Another question to ask might be whether that conversion step to the longer chain is rate limited for a reason and whether we actually need so much of the final product that we need these marine sources in the first place, but that's another kettle of fish (see what I did there?).

What are the best fish alternatives in the supermarket that are sustainable?

Thank you. You present a very smart and inclusive discussion of salmon and the human population. I am a coastal dweller who has fished all of my 70+ years. Although there is some recent recovery of wild salmon, abundance is far from what I remember.

From a Marine Biologist, we would like to know about the possibilities of toxicity of farmed salmon from synthetic dye/colour and dioxin in their deep sea food supply?....Please.

Would Soylent Green be a viable alternative?

It's worth noting that chia and flax and walnuts all have ALA, the "least valuable" omega 3 of the "big 3". Salmon, by contrast, has DHA, the most important omega 3. Not the same. Not all omega 3s are equal.

Facts should not be controversial! Thank you for your research with this. Great work! 🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

What about trout fish? Can you do a video on that type of fish? It's similar in Omega's to salmon!

I have just subscribed after watching your salmon video. Is there any fisheries management jurisdiction in the world which has not seen major negative impacts on wild salmon populations after salmon aquaculture implementation?

The bit a about wild caught salmon from the US was new to me. Not that I would ever consider buying salmon from the other side of the planet myself, but everybody should know. Good video!

A local store occasionally gets some wild salmon from Alaska, when it is in season, and I will buy that. I have given up eating farmed salmon for the reasons you covered. I live in the States and when I was visiting Ireland I saw the salmon rings off shore. I was so disappointed, because I thought that. I would be able to eat wild salmon from their rivers. You did a great job researching and presenting the information. Thanks.

Thank you. I've been saying this for years. Unfortunately, no one wants to hear it. There are too many of us, and we are eating up the world.

I live in Michigan. Could you comment on lake salmon, trout and white fish?

I am originally from Puerto Rico, live in Long Island, New York and have very many friends from South Africa. I used to eat a lot of salmon. Gradually, intuitively have been reducing ( I am also an intuitive healer, massage therapist and colon hydrotherapist.) Now, after listening to what you just said, I understand why. Thank you for all your work and effort to bring this information to us. Greatly appreciated!

Thank you for this insightful take. You mentioned there are some fisheries getting it right - can you list those? Can you also do a video on shrimp? I'm constantly trying to get friends & family to stop & would love a considered video like this to share.

Thank you! Very good information. A question: Since hatchery salmon spawn in the streams in which they hatched, how do they genetically influence other salmon strains?

It is what the wild salmon feed on which makes them the healthiest food in the world. Farmed is commonly known to be SH#T food - that is very well researched and distributed on how bad these farms are. The red, wild salmon of Alaska cannot be compared to anything else. Unfortunately, it is the common, poor person who will be forced to eat food that is severely deprived of nutrients while the ppl who are telling us constantly how bad we are for the planet are flying in jet streams, limos, and flying in the most expensive meat, and fish in the world along the the most material goods like clothes and many mansions. It is WE who will die soon, because for them, we are parasites on this earth. Human life has no value anymore (think of the unlimited ways they have encouraged us to become sterile?) unless you are born to a certain few having wealth beyond imagining.

Well aren't you a lovely smart young lady!! I already severely reduced my consumption of Salmon to about once per year for all the reasons you laid out so intelligently and well researched. Thank you for raising awareness of this terrible situation.

Thanks Telly. All the info I was looking for. Thanks for making the fundamental point about humans needing to share the planet - for everyone's well-being! No more salmon for me.

This is a fantastic presentation on an important topic. Thank you for your work in educating the public! Subscribed!

So glad I watched this. I will never purchase farmed salmon again and reduce my consumption of wild salmon until I phase it out. The wild salmon issue you speak about is fraught with devastating futures. I am going to reduce salmon or not eat it and just go back to sardines. You are an amazing wealth of information.

When I was born, the World's population was around 2,000,000,000 people. Today that number has quadrupled. Enough said.

Thanks for laying out all of this information.

As a fellow marine biologist, I have a question. "Was it a Titleist?"

Living in South Africa sounds like way more of a concern than worrying about the salmon industry, there's a growing number of inhabitants living along side of you that would like to see you become compost.

Thank you so much for your honest and values-based (caring about the environment) analysis. I encourage you to think about what policy, what law could be passed in the US, Canada, or Norway that would have a positive impact on Salmon?

Bravo, thank you. I've stopped eating salmon years ago, and avoid it, and tell about it.

I worked putting up a fish hatchery in Alaska. The fish that are wild that ran up stream were not the same strain as the ones that were produced at the hatchery. Both are caught in the wild but not the same. That bothered me. Why wouldn’t they produce the the same fish that ran wild?

Having spent 22 years as a marine biologist at Scripps Institute and California Academy of Sciences,working with Mahi Mahi and yellowtail jack I appreciate your presentation. Thank You.😊

Thank you for this. You've given me a lot to consider.

Is it true that farmed Salmon are high in Omega 6 from the pellets rather than Omega 3 like wild salmon?