Practically all of the Atlantic Salmon consumed in Britain is farmed, with 226 active salmon farms being around the west coast of Scotland. In this article John Aitchison discusses what we know so far about the environmental impacts of salmon farming in Scotland, and the potential of a more sustainable future.
Aquaculture is widely seen as essential to feed the growing world human population (FAO 2020). Its output has more than doubled since 2000, producing 54% of the fish consumed in 2020. This should help overexploited fish stocks, but wild-capture landings also rose by about 20% during this time (Mowi 2020), one fifth of all fish caught now being used for aquaculture feed.