New Video Exposes Horrors of Salmon Farming

Pure Salmon Campaign recently released a new video, “Farmed Salmon Exposed: The Global Reach of the Norwegian Salmon Farming Industry,” about how salmon farming with open-net pens is threatening wild salmon populations, consumers, and marine ecosystems. In the U.S. about 2/3 of the salmon we eat is farmed.

The leading companies in the salmon farming industry using open-net pens are Norwegian but they’ve been setting up their dangerous operations in some of the most beautiful coastal areas in the world — including Chile, British Columbia and Scotland. The short documentary produced by Canadian film-maker Damien Gillis details how these farms are deadly to local economies as well as fish populations — not to mention producing a product that most people would never want on their dinner plate.

Pure Salmon reports that there are alternatives, they’re recommending to companies that will reduce risks to wild fish populations:

Closed containment technology includes fiberglass, cement tanks and heavy gauge plastic bags that physically separate farmed fish from wild fish. This is one technology option that creates impermeable barriers that can prevent the spread of diseases and parasites and eliminates escapes and discharges of wastes into the ocean. Eliminating these problems would help protect fragile marine ecosystems while also inevitably improving productivity and profits for producers of farmed salmon.

You can watch a short intro to the video below or see the whole thing here.