Salmon Farming and the Environment

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing primary industries worldwide and is a major contributor to regional economies. It is important that we ensure that it is environmentally sustainable. The well-being of our coastal and marine environments is very important from an environmental, social and economic perspective.

The way we use and enjoy our environment can affect it – for better or worse. We refer to the interplay between how we use the environment and the resulting changes as ‘interactions’. Our interactions in the marine environment and can affect the ecosystem services which it offers us. If we manage our marine resources well we should be able to both benefit society and maintain a healthy ecosystem.

Salmon farming is one of the many activities which interact with the environment, and those interactions broad and varied (see infographics). Whether these interactions are considered to be positive or negative often depends on the perspective and value judgements of those assessing them.

Here we provide a bit more insight into some of the potential interactions between salmon farming and the environment based on our research, and some links to more detailed sources of information if you would like further information.