Argentina becomes the first country to ban salmon farming

Crammed into nets, farmed salmon have barely any room to move, let alone swim around. This is a stark contrast to the thousands of miles they’d travel in the wild, where the fish flaunt their muscle power by swimming upriver against strong currents.

Masses of salmon attract large predators such as seals, who routinely rip open the nets to feast. The escaped fish cause a problem for unnatural interbreeding of salmon species once they reach the wild populations, while the now empty nets hurt the pockets of farmers.

As a result, seals have been slaughtered by fish farmers in the hundreds. Though this is illegal, many are still washing up on lakeshores in Scotland. Dead seals still not enough to make you think twice about ordering sushi this weekend? Keep reading.

Huddled together, the salmon attract sea lice, a parasite which attaches to the fish, causing skin lesions and other secondary infections. In attempts to curb this, farm workers add pesticides and antibiotics to salmon feed – which ultimately, we eat too.

The doctoring of farmed salmon doesn’t end there. The distinct pink colour of a salmon fillet is a result of their diet in nature, which is made up of smaller fish and crustaceans. Without access to this diet, the deep orangey-pink meat of salmon is plain white, almost grey in colour.

Farmed salmon, trapped by the thousands in their spherical nets, have little chance of gaining access to their preferred meal. Instead, they’re fed pellets made from an array of ingredients like ground fish, vegetables, chicken fat, soy beans, and yeast.

Chemical dyes – yes, dyes – are a key ingredient in farmed salmon food, helping to achieve the pretty pink aesthetic of our £8 smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.

“If we didn’t do it, customers wouldn’t buy it,” said a salmon farmer in British Columbia, Canada. “Consumers buy what they’re familiar with. They won’t go into the store to buy white salmon.”

That’s actually pretty weird, considering if blue or green salmon became attractive to us, fish farmers could make that a reality overnight.

It goes without saying that subsequently, farmed salmon’s overall nutritional value is significantly lower than that of a salmon who gets its exercise and eats natural foods. I’ll let the health experts handle those figures, you can read the comparison here.

All jokes aside, the ban put in place by Argentina is a watershed moment for the fishing industry, one that could set a precedence for other countries looking to join or ramp up their salmon farming business.

It’s obvious that salmon farms cause unnecessary suffering for thousands of fish, who by the way, we’ve recognised as highly intelligent and capable of feeling emotions and pain.

Making it more pointless is the knowledge that farmed salmon offers very little in terms of nutritional value, potentially causing more harm to us than good thanks to those chemical dyes, odd fish-feed ingredients, and antibiotics.

As a sushi lover myself, opting for an avocado roll over my beloved salmon nigiri is not always easy. But video footage of salmon in nets, riddled with sea lice and other visible diseases is burned into my memory.

The news that Argentina has banned salmon farming will have many asking: why?

Discovering the answer could be a necessary catalyst for reducing unsustainable fishing practices, and developing plant-based alternatives to one of the world’s most sought after fish.