Farmed Salmon Feed Welfare and Fishmeal Reduction

The salmon industry depends on wild fish for feed, creating a welfare and sustainability challenge as demand grows and wild fish stocks decline.

Key Facts

It takes approximately 2 to 3 kilograms of wild fish to produce 1 kilogram of farmed salmon
Fishmeal and fish oil are derived primarily from anchovy, herring, and sand lance fisheries
Overcatch of forage fish for fishmeal depletes the food base for wild predators including dolphins and tuna
Alternative feed ingredients including soy, insects, and single-cell proteins are being developed
Some welfare advocates argue that sustainable fishmeal is still preferable to land crop alternatives

Welfare Considerations

Salmon feed welfare creates a mathematical challenge: farming a carnivorous fish for human consumption requires feeding wild fish to captive fish. The welfare implications extend in two directions — the billions of small wild fish caught for fishmeal, and the ecosystem welfare consequences for wild predators that depend on forage fish. Development of alternative protein sources reduces but does not eliminate these welfare concerns. Land-based crop ingredients introduce their own welfare considerations through habitat conversion. There is no perfect solution, but reduction of fishmeal dependency is directionally positive.

What You Can Do

Choose salmon from producers actively reducing fishmeal use in their feeds
Support research into welfare-positive alternative protein sources for aquaculture
Advocate for sustainable forage fish management that protects prey fish populations
Consider the full welfare supply chain when making salmon consumption choices