News / Salmon industry unites
THE global salmon farming industry has joined forces to tackle challenges such as sustainability, the demand to expand production as well as concerns from environmentalists.
The Global Salmon Initiative, representing 15 of the largest global players, was formed in Trondheim, in Norway, on Thursday.
Among them are Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg Seafoods, the largest two producers in Shetland.
The new global industry body said they have come together to find solutions to the challenge of how to grow the industry sustainably in line with ever increasing demand for protein from farmed fish.
Around 1.6 million tonnes of salmon came from farms in 2011, while 930,000 tonnes of wild salmon were caught.
A spokesman said: “About 60 per cent of the world’s salmon production currently comes from farms and the industry currently faces twin challenges: firstly, the need for expansion and growth in line with the growing demand for protein from a rapidly expanding global population and secondly the challenge of concerns from environmentalists about the impact of salmon farms and local concerns about the impact on wild fish numbers.”
The largest markets for salmon are the EU, USA, and Japan, while the world’s main salmon producing nations are Norway, Canada, Chile and Scotland.
The video above was produced and provided by the Global Salmon Initiative.
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