Farm-raised Norwegian salmon for sale in Oregon.
Natalie Maynor/Flickr
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Natalie Maynor/Flickr
Farm-raised Norwegian salmon for sale in Oregon.
Natalie Maynor/Flickr
If you eat salmon, there’s a good chance that it comes from a salmon farm in Norway. The country has been farming salmon for over 50 years.
The industry is touted as a key producer of sustainable, low carbon footprint protein. But there are still negative environmental impacts. Each year, an average of 200,000 farmed salmon escape from their open net pens and breed with wild salmon.
Interbreeding with these escaped salmon passes on significant genetic changes to wild salmon, changes that make them less likely to survive in the wild.
NPR’s Rob Schmitz traveled the country’s west coast, visiting fishing villages and fish farms to see how the growth of salmon farming is affecting the wild population.
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This episode was produced by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Tara Neil. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.