Salmon Wars

By: Sundial

Do you know where your salmon comes from? This is a question most people would not know the answer to. Salmon are a powerful and majestic fish, and revered by some fly fisherman as some of the most prized catches. Additionally, they have been a key source of food for people for thousands of years. Salmon are separated into two large groups based on geography into Atlantic and Pacific Salmon. Atlantic salmon only consist of one type referred to as Atlantic Salmon but Pacific Salmon include 5 (Some argue 6 different species) including Sockeye, Chum, Pink, Coho, Chinook, and sometimes Steelhead but these are often argued as trout because their transformation from rainbow trout to Steelhead is dependent on if they leave the freshwater streams and lakes to go to the ocean. 

Salmon have been fished for thousands of years but it wasn’t until more recent history that humans started to farm salmon. This is when this book starts. This book tells the history of salmon farming. First, it starts by introducing the reader to salmon farming. This includes what salmon farms did to make people eat more salmon such as marketing it as an extremely healthy food, and they describe the methods the salmon farms used to do this to the public. These claims by the salmon industry are then debunked by facts, and reasoning and quotes from experts in the environment and health field themselves. The author, at this same time, introduces the problem salmon farming poses to the environment. Salmon farms were initially seen as a solution for the over fishing of salmon because Atlantic salmon were fished until gone in multiple areas around the Atlantic but, as the book shows, salmon farms did not help the salmon population. 

Next the book explores the problems the industry has caused. Going into more detail on mass die offs and the view of salmon farms by experts. They describe the underwater world of salmon farms that is not seen by the regular person. This section also looks at some of the legal problems the salmon industry has faced and reactions by the communities and by their customers that they impact. Finally, in the last section, the book continues on the idea of legal action against the salmon farming industry, and the people who are fighting back. Additionally this section also introduces the reader to people who are fighting for a more sustainable future for salmon farming. Searching for alternative sources of feed that do not include wild caught fish to make fishmeal and fish oil, or creating salmon farms that are entirely on land and reduce any source biological pollution that spreads from unnaturally raised salmon to wild salmon. 

Overall, I learned a lot from this book. Being a diver and very up to date on marine conservation and problems, I knew about the problem with overfishing and had some limited knowledge about the problems with fish farming. This book really informed me on what the problems in salmon farming were, and gave me the information I needed to decide for myself that open net fish farming is definitely not the answer to the oceans decreasing fish populations. I learned not only what marine conservationists need to be fighting against, but what they need to be fighting for, and alternatives that can be put in place. The one criticism I have about this book is that it was very long and sometimes a little boring. I was always learning, but the salmon industry has used many of the same tactics over and over again so reading a book about them can get repetitive. Despite this I definitely enjoyed the book and learned so much. I would specifically recommend this book to people interested in marine biology, limnology or fisheries, but also to my fellow lake divers and northern water divers who live in areas where salmon live in the wild. This book helped me understand the horrors facing these beautiful fish, and how we need to continue to fight for their natural existence.