Farmed Salmon?? Why?!
Answers: Why do they even farm salmon, why not just catch it from the oceans... I just read several studies that farmed salmon contains cancer causing substances and they are kept in over-crowded pens and are toxic. Why do they sell them if they are this unsafe?
I saw a show about farmed salmon and actually they are not kept in pins the way you think they are. They capture young salmon but of course they can't be to small. They are trapped in a net and transfered into a holding net off a coastal shore. The only difference between farmed and wild salmon is what they eat. Farmed salmon are human feed, they still live in open water they are just limited to only swimming within the netting they are in. Nets are checked often because sharks can get in and eat them or the nets can get damaged by storms and they can escape. If I'm not mistaken they also said they were government regulated so they can only hold so many within the netting. Once they mature they are once again weeded out cause some may be to small transfered to a different netting and hauled in. To be honest I was raised on farmed salmon still eat it and didn't grow any extra limbs. I prefer the taste of farmed over wild. Some prefer the wild taste over the farmed. I prefer Atlantic farmed some prefer Alaskan wild. I don't know why they are making such a big issue of it. I remember when they said white bread causes cancer, they still sell that alot of people still eat it to. Must not be to toxic they haven't once said so and so died from eating farmed raised salmon.
Demand. People wanted more salmon and cheaper. Someone found a way to do that. Unfortunately, you are very right that it is toxic to us and to the waters they are raised in. They have to feed them special foods to get the pink color in them as well.
They are being fished out. On the west coast they keep changing the regulations to cut down on the take, and allow for re-population.
To add to the first answerer, with whom I completely agree, I'd like to add that the taste is different, as well. I won't buy farm-raised salmon after we did a taste test just last week in our home. Every member of my family could tell the difference and I ended up throwing out the farm-raised salmon.
It's mainly because of ignorance on the part of the consumers and the farm industry keeping information from them and keeping them ignorant. Even if you read studies that say farmed salmon is toxic, you can also find plenty that say it's not (most likely paid for by those companies). Salmon farming is a big money making business these days and just a couple companies basically control the entire market. When you have one or two powerful companies running the show, you can pretty much count on them only caring about their bottom line. Like some parts of the chicken industry, if they can cram as much meat into one little spot, inject them with hormones and only get a slap on the wrist every once in awhile for doing so, then they certainly won't care about health standards. It's all about making money.
it is too hard to harvest salmon from rivers. It also costs less for the business owner to set up a building. Because they can regulate how many salmon are bred, the owners can supply the demand at a cheaper cost and not have as many fish that go unsold. But because of the way they are raised, you can usually tell the taste is different. My family never buys farm raised salmon because it doesn't taste good. It mite have something to do with the living conditions. But in any case, i would rather pay more for salmon that has not come from a salmon farm than eat weird tasting fish