Choosing Farm-Raised Salmon From the Faroe Islands

There is not enough wild salmon on this planet to sustain the growing demand placed on it by the hundreds of millions of people who enjoy it all over the world. China alone gets most of our own Wild Alaskan salmon. Huge grocery store chains, fish markets, restaurants, and the medical and health food industries compete for it. The wealthy salmon eaters and self-named salmon snobs are pounding the table with fork in fist for more wild salmon.

The alternative for meeting this demand is farm-raised salmon that is safe for you and the environment, plus economical. The majority of the salmon Americans eat is farm-raised salmon, feeding millions of people healthy omega 3’s so we can live longer and eat more salmon. When we shopped for farmed salmon, we cast a net far and wide toward the Northern Atlantic, Norway, and Scotland until we settled on a beautiful remote location called the Faroe Islands. Sounds like a mysterious island where only pirates and lost boys live, but it has one of the most successful salmon farming industries on the planet. We admire and trust how they care for the salmon and the environment, and we’re hocked on it’s taste.

Salmon Dens on the Faroe Islands

Located between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, the aquaculture industry in the Faroe Islands is committed to “sustainability and sound stewardship of the environment.” Salmon veterinarians, if you can believe it, “ensure the welfare of farmed Faroese salmon, as it protects the salmon from disease and keeps them completely free of antibiotics.” The clear waters, combined with the fast-moving currents from the North Atlantic Drift, create an environment where salmon can thrive, and a live a life on the wild side, moving freely through large pens where the water is as pristine as the spawning rivers in the Pacific Northwest, if not cleaner.

Fish farming has been around for centuries, sustaining cultures from the Romans to the Mayans. The modern day aquaculture industry is necessary to sustain the world population of over 7 billion people for centuries to come.