Center for Food Safety | Threats to Environment & Wildlife |

In addition to harms posed by overfishing, aquaculture can pose imminent threats to the environment and wildlife in several ways, most notably by allowing fish to escape their facilities and invade wild habitats:

Genetic Pollution: Specially-bred species that are ill-suited for the wild can interbreed with wild stocks and “water down” the gene pool, leading to the potential extinction of those native stocks.

Habitat Invasion: Specially-bred species can invade natural habitats and alter both the physical geography of the ecosystem and the localized food web, competing with wild fish for space and food sources. They can also impact marine mammals that may aggregate in new locales due to the changing environment and food sources.

Spread of Disease: Fish crammed in unsanitary conditions in aquaculture facilities are prone to infection and disease, such as infectious salmon anemia and sea lice. Diseased fish can escape and spread such pathogens to wild stocks with potentially devastating effects.

Furthermore, dumping of aquaculture facility wastes into open ocean waters can destroy fragile marine environments. Antibiotics used to prophylactically treat fish can bioaccumulate in wild marine animals and harm critical ocean bacteria, and harmful pesticides used to control sea lice and protect fish eggs can poison complex marine environments.

Salmon Advocates Challenge Approval of Washington Net Pen Aquaculture

Photo: Steve Ringman, Seattle Times February 11, 2020 — Conservation and environmental groups filed a lawsuit today challenging a January decision by the Washington…

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Previously Undisclosed Documents Reveal Requests by Several Companies to Obtain Government Approval to Grow Controversial Salmon in U.S. Facilities

Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, and Food & Water Watch will join over 1.8 million people who have raised vehement objections, based on science, polic…

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Threats to the Environment & Wildlife

Salmon Advocates Challenge Approval of Washington Net Pen Aquaculture

The Catch with Seafood: Human Health Impacts of Drugs and Chemicals Used by the Aquaculture Industry

Previously Undisclosed Documents Reveal Requests by Several Companies to Obtain Government Approval to Grow Controversial Salmon in U.S. Facilities