WildFish launch 2022 Christmas Appeal
For salmon, it’s the least wonderful time of the year.
In the lead up to Christmas, over 2 million farmed salmon are likely to die prematurely each month on farms along the Scottish west coast and islands. Farmed salmon has no place on our festive menus, and certainly not on sustainable ones.
How your donation will support WildFish
In the continued fight to protect wild Atlantic salmon WildFish have launched the Off the table campaign.
In targeting the hospitality sector, Off the table highlights the environmental, welfare and sustainability issues linked to farmed salmon. It enlists the help of chefs, food writers and critics ready to join us in taking farmed salmon off the menu.
The money you donate will be used to drive this new campaign forward and continue to build a movement of chefs and restaurants across the country who agree it is time to remove farmed salmon from their menus.
As WildFish raise public awareness, they will apply increasing pressure on the Scottish Government to end the fundamentally unsustainable practice of open-net salmon farming.
How to donate
The WildFish Christmas Appeal runs between Tuesday 29th November and Thursday 8th December.
If you are able, please consider making a donation. Our work, including this campaign, is funded entirely by your support.
DONATE TODAY
My wife and I stopped eating farmed salmon some time ago, but more recently we have been tempted to buy “Smoked Trout” from Marks and Spencer etc. However, the size of these fish would suggest that they are saltwater reared and not in freshwater. The packaging does not reveal how and where these “trout” are raised. Do you know if these fish are any different to farmed salmon? We’d welcome your opinion and look forward to hearing from you.
Christopher and Catherine Noble (Wildfish Members 7566)
Hi Christopher and Catherine,
Thanks for your question. From our perspective, farmed trout is unfortunately not a sustainable alternative to farmed salmon, although there is some nuance to the debate. If the trout sold in M&S is indeed sea trout; the issues related to salmon farming (sea lice, chemicals use and water pollution, feed, etc) are the same for sea trout farming. Similarly, some freshwater trout is farmed in Scotland’s freshwater lochs, which is also problematic. With regards to chalk stream (freshwater) trout farmed in England – we are aware there are huge variances in farms producing chalk stream trout, and we would urge supermarkets and consumers purchasing this fish to conduct their own due diligence in relation to the supplier. We are planning to do more work in the coming months to ascertain the true picture of this type of production.