Salmon has long been celebrated as a nutritional powerhouse, touted for its rich Omega-3 fatty acids and heart-healthy benefits. However, the reality of salmon’s health credentials may not be as rosy as commonly believed. Increasingly, the salmon available on our plates comes from farms rather than the wild, a shift driven by overfishing and environmental degradation. This transition to aquaculture has its own set of problems, including pollution, disease transmission to wild fish populations, and the ethical concerns of farming practices. Moreover, recent studies indicate that farmed salmon might not be as nutritious as once thought, raising questions about its role in a healthy diet. This article delves into the complexities of salmon farming, the nutritional downsides of consuming farmed fish, and the broader implications for both human health and the environment.
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Salmon Is Probably Not as Healthy as You Think
Priscilla Du Preez/Unsplash
Salmon meat is often claimed to be a healthy food, but does it live up to the hype? Here’s why salmon may not be as nutritious as you think.
In 2022, more fish were farmed than were captured from the ocean. It’s most likely that the fish you eat was raised in captivity on a farm—but that is especially true of salmon. The most widely available salmon products are made from the Atlantic salmon, which is now entirely farmed rather than wild-captured. Why? Overfishing, mostly. In 1948, the U.S. Atlantic salmon fishery was shut down as wild populations were devastated by commercial fishing as well as dams and pollution.
Yet, farming salmon in the trillions is no solution, either. The increasingly intensive aquaculture industry, particularly salmon farming, has been found to pollute surrounding waters and jeopardize wild fish populations with disease.
And maybe you didn’t know that the salmon on your plate almost certainly came from a farm, but that’s not all. That fish in your dish may not even be as healthy as you thought.
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In a March 2024 study, Cambridge researchers and other scientists determined that farmed salmon production resulted in a net loss of nutrients in the smaller fish fed to the salmon—including essentials like calcium, iodine, Omega-3, iron, and vitamin B12.
Yet, despite this highly inefficient conversion, a staggering number of “feeder fish” or “forage fish” are fed to captive salmon each year. Three pounds of “feeder fish” produce just one pound of farmed salmon.
Furthermore, many of the “feeder fish” used in fishmeal and fish oil fed to salmon are caught from the waters of global south nations facing the health crisis of food insecurity. Meanwhile, the industry’s end product—farm-raised salmon—is mainly sold to wealthier countries, including the United States.
Salmon is often recommended as a heart-healthy fatty fish. It contains some healthy fats and Omega-3 (although you can also get these vital fatty acids from plants, which is also where fish get them). However, as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) warns, salmon is 40 percent fat, and 70-80 percent of its fat content is “not good for us.”
In Health Concerns About Fish, PCRM also writes, “Eating fish regularly can put a person at risk for diseases associated with consuming excessive saturated fat and cholesterol, such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.”
Picture your image broken up into three equal sections, with the main subject of your photo (like an animal or person) in just one-third of the image. For example, grass might be in the lower third, an animal in the middle, and the sky in the top third.
Like factory-farmed animals on land, salmon producers feed farmed fish antibiotics to prevent disease in crowded and waste-filled facilities.
Not only are farmed salmon still vulnerable to illness, but aquaculture’s use of drugs to treat humans may contribute to a growing health threat: antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
Antibiotics used on fish farms don’t just stay there. They can end up in the surrounding water when animal waste seeps from the pens or farmed salmon escape. Researchers have found residue from commonly used drugs (tetracycline and quinolones) in wild fish captured from waters surrounding salmon farms.
Not only is salmon not the healthiest choice, but in the salmon farming industry, fish suffer shortened lives in captivity in crowded tanks or pens and, ultimately, endure painful deaths. In the wild, salmon sometimes swim hundreds of miles as they travel between the open ocean, the stream where they hatched (the fish return there to spawn!), and the waters in which they feed. The salmon industry denies them these complex natural lives.
Plus, salmon is far from the only (or best) option for a nutrient-packed meal.
While the Cambridge study concluded that consumers should eat “feeder fish,” like mackerel and anchovies, instead of salmon, many kinder alternatives to eating from our beleaguered oceans will still offer you the taste and nutrition you’re seeking in fish.
Choosing from the ever-growing number of healthy and sustainable plant-based foods and vegan “seafood” available in stores and restaurants will lighten your impact on the oceans and our planet.
Try plant-based eating today! We can help you get started.
Notice: This content was initially published on FarmSanctuary.org and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Humane Foundation.
