Farm Raised Salmon: A Good Catch?

by Christine Chan — May 5, 2008

Here are some FAQs about the difference betweens wild and farm-raised salmon.

Why can farm-raised salmon sell for $4-$5 dollars less per pound than wild salmon?
Farm-raised salmon are raised in crowded netted pens with little room to swim. They are fed artificial food pellets rather than their natural food. Since they are so crammed, they are fed antibiotics, which are not good for our health or the environment.

What makes wild salmon flesh naturally pink and farm-raised gray?
Wild salmon become pink by eating sea creatures that contain a carotenoid called astaxanthin. The pellets that farm-raised salmon are fed give them dull gray flesh. Then they are fed pink dyes to make them more marketable.

But isn't eating wild salmon bad for the environment? They are endangered, aren't they?
Although many salmon runs are threatened or endangered, others are still healthy. Farm-raised salmon, however, are raised in intensely concentrated areas where their waste and diseases wreak havoc on the surrounding ecosystem. Farm-raised salmon frequently escape from their pens and infest wild salmon with sea lice and compete with them for natural resources.

I've heard salmon are rich in omega-3. Do both kinds of fish offer the same nutrients?
Farm-raised salmon consume more antibiotics than any other kind of livestock. They contain significantly higher levels of PCBs, dioxin, and other cancer-causing agents over wild salmon. Wild salmon also has much higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and lower levels of saturated fat.

With these facts, it turns out that wild salmon, despite the higher costs, is the much better catch. It's a splurge that's well worth it.