Salmon farming in Iceland looks to be headed for courts reports the website Oceanographic magazine.
One of the country’s two largest salmon farming operations are now under police investigation for alleged violations of local animal welfare regulations, while another faces a landmark lawsuit to see its open net pen farming permits revoked by authorities.
Pressure has arisen and increased to bring to an end salmon farming practices which have left Iceland’s wild salmon population threatened by genetic contamination and disease.
In Iceland’s Eastfjords, a formal police investigation has been launched into alleged violations of animal welfare at Kaldvik’s salmon farm after nearly 1.2 million farmed salmon smolts died between November 2024 and February 2025 due to alleged ‘severe mishandling, harsh transport conditions, and poor seawater conditions,” reports Oceanographic.
The Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority has deemed these ‘serious’ violations that “underscore the deep-rooted issues in the open net salmon farming industry.”
Meanwhile, a landmark lawsuit has been filed against the salmon farming giant Arctic Sea Farm and Icelandic authorities, aimed at revoking permits for open net pen farms in Patreksfjörður and Tálknafjörður.
This legal action, supported by the Icelandic Wildlife Fund has been funded in part by the Icelandic artist, Björk who together with the environmental organisation is seeking “to prevent further environmental destruction and genetic contamination of Iceland’s wild salmon populations.”
The population of wild North Atlantic salmon is today just 25% of its level in 1970, driving fears that the species is on the very edge of extinction. Climate change and ocean acidification have piled pressure on the remaining numbers, impacting upon their breeding grounds leaving them with a severely decreased chance for survival.
Open pen ocean farming in fjords around Iceland have only further limited those chances of surviving in the wild with a continuous torrent of parasites, diseases, and escaped salmon causing genetic mixing making them all more susceptible.
Footnote: For full article see oceanographicmagazine.com/news/severe-mortalities-put-icelandic-salmon-under-the-microscope/
I came across this report from Australia:- “Tasmanian salmon farms produce 6 times more pollution each year than Tasmania’s entire sewage.”
This comparison might help understand just how “dirty” fish farming can
be. Apparently “salmon farming and human sewage treatment both produce nitrogen, which is an important factor in the health of waterways. Too much nitrogen can cause algal blooms that lead to serious impacts on aquatic animals and plants. Of particular concern is dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN).”
Minister Jones take note.
Chile started salmon farming in the 1970s and has expanded into Patagonia. Last year, a report for the United Nations called salmon farming “one of the main threats to the environment” in Patagonia.
Salmon farms routinely treat fish with antibiotics and pesticides to prevent infection from outbreaks of illnesses including Piscirickettsiosis and infectious salmon anemia. Chile’s national fisheries agency, more than 338 metric tons of antibiotics were reportedly used in Chilean salmon farms in 2023.
It’s a grubby business.