Ive heard that we are depleting wild fish stocks to feed farmed salmon. Is this true?
The species most used for fish oil and fish meal are small fish that are not generally used for human consumption. They are caught off the coast of Peru and Chile and in the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. North American salmon farming relies primarily on fish meal from South America. These stocks have been fished for fish meal for decades and are under rigorous and successful regulation to ensure sustainability. Aquaculture is one of several major consumers of fish meal. All salmon are carnivores. In the wild, they eat a varied diet of fish and other aquatic organisms. Feeding farmed salmon a diet that includes fish meal is natural. It takes only about three kilograms of wild fish to produce one kilogram of farmed salmon while it takes 10 to 15 kilograms of wild fish to produce the same amount of wild salmon. As well, in an effort to ensure that feed fisheries remain healthy and abundant, the industry has reduced their use of wild fish up to nearly 40 per cent in the
