Norwegian salmon farms are the greenest

Natalia Bell
November 6,2009
Fisheries Information Service

Scientists have conducted the first worldwide life cycle assessment (LCA) of farmed salmon to gauge farms’ environmental impact.

Although less environmentally destructive than the beef industry and others, the aquaculture sector generates a hefty amount of pollution, reveals a study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology on 23 October.

The LCA measures the collective energy use, animal resource use and greenhouse gas, acidifying and eutrophying emissions (such as phosphates) produced by salmon farms in Norway, the UK, Chile and British Columbia, Canada, the main salmon-farming countries.

As aquaculture has spread throughout the globe, production skyrocketed from a yearly 500 tonnes in 1970 to 1.5 million tonnes today. The environmental consequences are excessive energy use, contaminated coastal waters and depleted pelagic stocks, New Scientist reports.

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Read scientific paper on which article is based.