Global Statistics

The following information was obtained through FOI (Freedom of Information) inquiries in Scotland, Ireland, Chile, Norway, Canada, Australia, and the United States. It details several key issues regarding the farmed salmon industry including, but not limited to, escapes, diseases, mortalities and chemical use. Please click on the links below to see a quantitative analysis of salmon farming problems worldwide.

Scotland

• Summary Table - 2005, 2006, partial 2007
• Feed Use Comparison Table - 2005, 2006, partial 2007
• Monthly Exceedances Comparison Table - 2005, 2006, partial 2007
• Slice Use Comparison Table - 2005, 2006, partial 2007
• Excis Use Comparison Table - 2005, 2006, partial 2007
• Copper on Nets Comparison Table - 2005, 2006, partial 2007
• Escapes - 2005, 2006, partial 2007
• IPN-infected escapes (2000-2005)
• Diseases (company specific) during 2006
• Water Pollution Incidents (2003-2006)
• Escapes 2002-2006 (Word Document)
• Escapes 2002-2006 (PDF)
• Mortalities from 2004 (Company Specific Data)
• Diseases on Salmon Farmes from March - September 2008
• Diseases on Salmon Farms - 2007
• Diseases on Salmon Farms - 1998-2006
• Disease on Scottish Fish Farms - 2005-2006
• Diseases on Salmon Farms since 1980
• Marine Harvest Data from January 2005
• Escapes during 2007 (up to October)

Ireland

• Parliamentary Answers on Diseases, Escapes, Chemicals, Wastes and Mortalities
• Dangerous Substance Usage in Finfish Aquaculture
• Sea Lice Data from November 2006
• Sea Lice Data from August 2007
• Sea Lice Data from September 2007

Chile

• Chilean antibiotic use - 2007 and 2008
• Preliminary Environmental Information from Chilean Patagonia
• Escapes 2004-2005 (Word Document)
• Escapes 2004-2005 (Excel Spreadsheet)

Norway

• Waste/Nutrient Discharges
• Escapes
• Antimicrobial Drug Usage
• Salmon Escapes from 1998-2007
• Chemical Use 1987-2004
• Other Information
• Forbruk av legemidler i norsk fiskeoppdrett i 2005
• STA_LAKS_Tap

Tasmania/Australia

• Escapes (2000-2007)
• Chemical use 2004-2007
• Diseases 2004 - 2007
• An overview of escaped salmonids and their potential impacts in Tasmania

United States - Maine

• Chemical Use in November 2003
• Chemical Use in May 2004
• Chemical Use in June 2005
• Chemical Use in June 2006
• Chemical Use Industry-Wide in 2007
• Reported Escapes
• Therapeutant Use

Canada

Since August 2004, T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, a member group of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR), has been involved in a Freedom of Information battle with the Province of British Columbia to obtain critical information on sea lice and disease in BC. The data requested in 2004 was two-fold: all government information on disease incidents on a farm site by site basis, and all government information on sea lice infestation levels on a farm site by site basis. These farms operate in the coastal waters of BC (a commons) and disease outbreaks and lice infestations are threatening the survival of BC’s wild salmon populations – salmon not only critical to the survival of the commercial and recreational fishing sectors but to the health of the coastal temperate rainforest ecosystem as a whole.

Four months later, the Province of BC denied the request citing that it didn't believe the requested information was a matter of public interest and further, that releasing the information could harm the business interests of the companies involved.

In August, 2005, together with Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund), the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation launched a formal complaint with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of BC. All the major fish farm companies intervened against the complaint, as did the BC Salmon Farmers Association. As of October 2008, a decision is still pending.

Since 2001, the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) and its allies have researched the effects of open net-cage aquaculture in British Columbia and produced a mountain of evidence that indicates open net-cage salmon farming harms the environment and has negative impacts on wild fish stocks.

Notable research papers include:

• Sea louse infestation in wild juvenile salmon and Pacific herring associated with fish farms off the east-central coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia
• Declining wild salmon populations in relation to parasites from farm salmon
• Estimated Sea Louse Egg Production from Marine Harvest Canada Farmed Atlantic Salmon in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, 2003–2004
• Epizootics of wild fish induced by farm fish
• Further research papers & reports at Raincoast Research Society and on CAAR's website