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Publications
Jennifer S. Ford and Ransom A. Myers.
A global assessment of salmon aquaculture impacts on wild salmonids. PLoS Biology, 2008.
Abstract:
Since the late 1980s, wild salmon catch and abundance have declined dramatically in the North Atlantic and in much of
the northeastern Pacific south of Alaska. In these areas, there has been a concomitant increase in the production of
farmed salmon. Previous studies have shown negative impacts on wild salmonids, but these results have been difficult
to translate into predictions of change in wild population survival and abundance. We compared marine survival of
salmonids in areas with salmon farming to adjacent areas without farms in Scotland, Ireland, Atlantic Canada, and
Pacific Canada to estimate changes in marine survival concurrent with the growth of salmon aquaculture. Through a
meta-analysis of existing data, we show a reduction in survival or abundance of Atlantic salmon; sea trout; and pink,
chum, and coho salmon in association with increased production of farmed salmon. In many cases, these reductions in
survival or abundance are greater than 50%. Meta-analytic estimates of the mean effect are significant and negative,
suggesting that salmon farming has reduced survival of wild salmon and trout in many populations and countries.
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