The farming of Atlantic salmon dates back to the 19th century, when hatchery techniques were developed in the United Kingdom. This first involved the production of immature fish to restock rivers for recreational fishing. In Norway in the 1960s, however, the first marine farms set up floating cages in fjords, with the aim of marketing adult salmon. Their success sparked the development of salmon farming first in Europe and then in all temperate seas in both hemispheres, based on a hybrid stock resulting from cross-fertilization of the Norwegian stock with different local stocks. The rapid rise in production led to market saturation in the late 1990s. This crisis resulted in a major restructuring of the sector.
Latin name – Salmo salar
Taxonomic Code : 1230100401
Production (EU-27) – 142 350 t (2007), 10 % of global production.
Value (EU-27) – EUR 662 million (2007).
Main EU producer countries – United Kingdom, Ireland.
Main producer countries worldwide – Norway (736 168 t - 2007), Chile, Canada.
Local Names
Catalan : Salmó
Czech : Losos atlantsky
Danish : Atlantisk laks, Laks, Skaellaks
Dutch : Zalm
English : Atlantic salmon, Salmon
Finnish : Lohi
French : Saumon Atlantique
Gaelic/Irish : Bradan
German : Echter lachs, Lachs, Las, Salm
Greek : Salomós
Icelandic : Lax
Italian : Salmo, Salmone, Salmone del reno
Japanese : Sake masu-rui
Manx : Braddan
Norwegian : Laks, Laks (atlantisk), Lax
Polish : Losos, Losos szlachetny atlantycki
Portuguese : Salmao , Salmao do atlântico
Russian : Losos
Serbo-Croat : Losos, Salmon
Spanish : Salmón, Salmón del Atlántico
Swedish : Lax
Turkish : Somon, Alabalık (Atlantik)
Diagnostic Features
Body elongate, but becoming deeper with age, caudal peduncle slender, the fish easily grasped by it. Tip of upper jaw reaching to hind margin of eye, but not beyond; jaws in adult males become greatly hooked just before and during breeding. A staggered line of teeth on shaft of vomer, but none on head of vomer. Gillrakers 17-24. Dorsal fin rays iii-iv + 9-12, and an adipose fin behind it; pelvic fin ray i-ii (7) 8-9, base below latter half of dorsal fin. Anal fin rays iii-iv + 7-9 (10). Caudal fin fairly deeply forked. Scales small, 114-130 in lateral line, 11-15 obliquely from adipose fin to lateral line. Vertebrae 59-60. Color back brown, or green/blue, flanks silvery, belly white; back and flanks above lateral line (rarely below it) with X-shaped black spots; in freshwater, flanks greenish or brown, mottled with red or orange and with large dark spots with lighter edges.
Habitat and Biology
Anadromous, adults in sea not forming shoals, making considerable migrations, often transatlantic (but life in sea not well known).Young remain in freshwater for 2-3 years, then migrate to the ocean for one or more years before returning to freshwater to spawn. Does not die after spawning but returns to the ocean. Active mainly during the day.Feeds at sea, crustaceans and small fishes (herring, sprat, sand-eels, capelin, small gadids); in freshwater, adults do not feed, but juveniles take mainly aquatic larvae of insects. Spawning runs April to August, the adults ascending far upstream, but not actually spawning until October-December at 5-6 years of age.
Market And Trade
Status and trends
The following status and trends exist:
Current worldwide production of farmed Atlantic salmon exceeds 1 000 000 tones.
Farmed Atlantic salmon constitute >90 percent of the farmed salmon market, and >50 percent of the total global salmon market.
The major markets for farmed Atlantic salmon are Japan, the European Union, and North America.
The major products remain fresh (whole, steaked, filleted), frozen, and smoked (mainly for the European market). A small but increasing percentage is on processed to supply value-added products into the market.
Because of rapid increases in production over the last 10-15 years, ex-farm prices have fallen sharply. This, and the decreasing availability of suitable sites have limited further growth in production in the Northern hemisphere. The most rapidly growing supplier now is Chile, which has low labour and materials costs and can therefore effectively compete with traditional producing countries in distant markets.
Many producers in Europe are unable to sell fish into the market at the cost of production. There has been an increase in the development of quality schemes, both industry and interest-group led (e.g. organic/welfare-related schemes), in order to try and protect market prices. Political intervention (e.g. minimum import prices for Atlantic salmon imported into the EU from non-EU countries) has failed to maintain market prices in some markets.
Much of the state-of-the-art research into salmonid farming still takes place in traditional Northern European producing countries, and much of this focuses on developing economies of scale in order to reduce unit production costs and protect profit margins. However, it seems likely that significant future production increases will take place in Chile, where costs of production are generally lower due to lower cost of labour and raw materials.
For up-to-date salmon market prices, see Globefish or local market organizations.
Main issues
Atlantic salmon farming has long been controversial and its effect on the environment and on wild fisheries (particularly salmonid fisheries) is questioned by many individuals and organizations.
The major areas of concern are detailed in World Wildlife Fund reports :
Local nutrient pollution into water systems, by waste feed/faces.
Local chemical pollution, by use of chemical treatments.
Effect on wild fish, by escapees, through disease spread.
Global environmental impact and issues of sustainability, since salmon production relies on supplies of fishmeal and fish oil for feed production, from industrial fisheries.
Concerns have also been expressed relating to welfare of the farmed fish. See Compassion in World Farming and Farm Animal Welfare Council reports for examples.
FAO. © 2004-2011. Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme. Salmo salar. Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme. Text by Jones, M. In: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department [online]. Rome. Updated 1 January 2004. [Cited 12 September 2011]. http://www.fao.org/fishery/culturedspecies/Salmo_salar/en
http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/marine_species/farmed_fish_and_shellfish/salmon/index_en.htm