Wild Salmon Conservation and Welfare

Wild salmon populations are in long-term decline from overfishing, habitat loss, and aquaculture impacts. Their conservation is inseparable from the welfare of the millions of individual fish affected.

Key Facts

Wild Atlantic salmon have declined by over 70% since the 1980s.
Pacific salmon runs in many rivers are at historic lows due to dam construction, habitat degradation, and ocean warming.
Sea lice from salmon farms harm juvenile wild salmon migrating past farming areas.
River temperature increases from climate change are pushing salmon above thermal tolerance limits.
Dam removal programs have produced dramatic salmon population recoveries in multiple rivers.
Salmon play critical roles as nutrient carriers from ocean to forest — their decline affects entire ecosystems.

Welfare Considerations

Wild salmon welfare intersects with conservation in a direct way: the factors that threaten salmon populations — warming waters, dam barriers, sea lice infestations, and river habitat degradation — also cause individual fish to suffer. Salmon caught in warming rivers that exceed their thermal tolerance experience heat stress. Fish struggling to pass dam barriers exhaust themselves. Individual welfare and population viability point in the same direction: protecting wild salmon habitat, removing barriers, reducing sea lice pressure from farms, and addressing climate change. Wild salmon conservation is not separate from animal welfare — it is one of its most important practical expressions.

What You Can Do

Support dam removal programs that restore salmon migration routes.
Advocate for closed-containment salmon farming to reduce sea lice pressure on wild populations.
Choose wild-caught salmon from certified sustainable fisheries that monitor population health.
Engage with river conservation organizations working on habitat restoration for salmon.
Reduce your carbon footprint to slow the ocean and river warming threatening salmon populations.