Another environmental impact is with the impact on wild salmon. The aquaculture industry argues that farmed salmon eases pressure on wild stocks. Theoretically, this may be true but in practice the argument lacks strength. Wild salmon stocks are subject to quotas and active management from the Department of Fisheries, and the global overfishing problem is not necessarily related to wild salmon stocks. There is no evidence presented that demand for wild salmon decreases as the result of the increased availability of farmed salmon.

Most farmed salmon are Atlantic salmon, which are preferred by the industry for a couple of reasons. These salmon are not native to British Columbia. Specimens do escape from fish farms, and this creates significant risk to local species. On the Atlantic Coast, wild stocks of Atlantic salmon are listed as critically endangered, and can be put at risk by escaped farm fish. In British Columbia, the...
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