What The Anti-Aquaculture Lobby Won’t Tell You On Wild Salmon Day

Countries around the world are using science-based conservation and modern licensing to expand aquaculture and ease pressure on wild fish stocks, while Ottawa clings to a B.C. salmon farming ban that threatens coastal jobs and First Nations partnerships.

By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews

Wild Salmon Day on June 1 will resurface the predictable campaign against ocean salmon farms in British Columbia, with activists ratcheting up their discredited claims that a ban on this highly regulated aquaculture sector will somehow restore wild salmon populations.

Expect a flood of apocalyptic warnings that global fisheries scientists have repeatedly said are exaggerated and disconnected from the wider forces driving wild salmon decline, including climate change, habitat loss, pollution, drought, floods and warming rivers.

What these activists won’t tell you while framing Wild Salmon Day as a romantic defence of nature is that other nations are moving past ideological slogans, using science-based conservation to protect marine ecosystems while expanding farmed seafood production.

They don’t want Canadians to see the global shift, as countries from Chile and Norway to Australia, Iceland, the United States and China tighten rules, modernize licensing and show that aquaculture can grow while wild fish are protected.

They want a singular focus on their 2029 ban plan, which would put about 4,560 full-time jobs, Indigenous partnerships and more than $1.17 billion in annual economic activity at risk, despite no evidence that shutting down B.C.’s salmon farms will restore wild stocks.

The reality on this Wild Salmon Day is that countries around the world are bolstering aquaculture rules, demanding better performance and treating farmed seafood as part of the   solution to food security, coastal jobs and pressure on wild fish populations.

Chile made that message unmistakable recently.

Speaking at La Moneda Palace in Santiago to mark the creation of May 26 as Salmon Workers’ Day, Chilean President José Antonio Kast said his country “will one day be the world’s largest salmon producer” and pledged regulatory changes to “unblock the industry.”

The event brought together workers, union leaders and government officials from a sector that has become one of Chile’s most important economic drivers, especially in its southern regions.

Kast framed salmon farming as a strategic national industry, saying aquaculture has helped create “a better future” for communities that once had fewer economic options.

The Chilean government says salmon farming supports more than 70,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country’s south and has described the new holiday as recognition for workers whose communities have been reshaped by aquaculture.

Chile produced more than 800,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon last year, along with more than 279,000 tonnes of coho and more than 50,000 tonnes of trout. Industry leaders are now openly discussing plans to double output in the coming years tied to stronger oversight and increased monitoring.

Norway, the world’s dominant farmed salmon producer, is moving toward performance-based growth rather than retreat. Its aquaculture strategy aims to create the greatest possible value within sustainable frameworks, with regulations increasingly tied to measurable factors such as sea lice emissions and fish mortality.

The country is not asking whether salmon farming should continue but is telling companies how they can earn the right to grow fish.

The Faroe Islands have taken a similar path, using strict rules to build one of the world’s most stable salmon farming regimes. The Faroese parliament has introduced tough health requirements, including “All In, All Out” production, compulsory fallowing and close veterinary oversight.

At the same time, the Faroes have created research and development licences to test new technology and husbandry systems. A resource-rent tax captures part of the sector’s profits for the state, while the broader policy framework remains clearly supportive of salmon farming, which has grown from about 80,000 tonnes in 2023 to an expected 90,000 tonnes in 2024.

Australia has also moved to protect its salmon farming sector.

In 2025, the Albanese government pushed through amendments to federal environmental law to secure the continuation of salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.

The government described the move as a specific fix to protect local employment while maintaining environmental safeguards. The region has 10 regulated marine finfish farming leases, while Tasmania’s salmon industry supports thousands of jobs across the state.

Ireland remains a smaller salmon producer, but it has kept aquaculture inside its national food and coastal development strategy. The country produced about 13,400 to 14,000 tonnes of farmed salmon in 2024, with the sector valued at about C$218 million annually. Ireland’s broader aquaculture production reached 38,456 tonnes in 2024, worth about C$332 million, an eight per cent increase in volume and a 24 per cent increase in value from the previous year.

Scotland has kept farmed salmon at the centre of its seafood export economy and coastal conservation policies. Scottish Atlantic salmon production reached 192,000 tonnes in 2024, up 27 per cent from 2023, with 2025 production estimated at about 195,000 tonnes. The sector operates more than 200 active farms across north and west Scotland, while Scottish salmon exports hit record levels in 2024 and remain one of the United Kingdom’s most valuable food exports.

The United States is also moving to expand aquaculture as part of a broader push for seafood self-sufficiency. An executive order from the White House on seafood competitiveness has directed federal agencies to reduce regulatory barriers affecting aquaculture and seafood processing. Federal proposals have also identified waters off Southern California and in the Gulf, including Texas waters, for large-scale sustainable commercial aquaculture.

Iceland has become one of the fastest-growing salmon farming jurisdictions in the North Atlantic, with production expanding as new sites move through national and regional planning processes. The country’s policy direction remains aimed at building aquaculture capacity rather than removing farms from the water. A recent Icelandic government report has projected aquaculture could generate value equal to as much as six per cent of national GDP by 2032.

China already dominates global aquaculture, producing more farmed aquatic products than any other nation, and is now pushing into cold-water fish farming and large offshore aquaculture systems. Chinese state media has highlighted deep-sea farming systems such as Shenlan 2 as part of a broader “blue economy” strategy. Beijing has stated it is building domestic seafood capacity to reduce import dependence, not retreating from aquaculture.

Taken together, these countries are showing why salmon farming policy does not have to become a crude fight between food production and conservation.

Canada can do the same by using Wild Salmon Day to start building a modern, First Nations-led aquaculture future that protects wild salmon, produces more Canadian seafood and keeps coastal jobs at home.

Main image shows a traditional net pen salmon farm in Norway © The Norwegian Seafood Council