The salmon dilemma

I eat meat. I also eat a lot of other things, which makes me an omnivore like a lot of people. But lately, I've been wondering, is it even possible to be an omnivore responsibly? I mean, is it possible to eat meat and still care about this planet? I've been hearing a lot about farming fish as one of the most sustainable [music] and ethical ways to produce animal protein. So, I decided to do a deep dive on the most consumed fish in the US, [music] salmon.

I personally eat a ton of salmon, and I'm not alone. The average American consumes 3.2 lbs of salmon a year. So, how exactly does salmon farming work?

I'll explain the impact it has on our planet and our future, [music] and maybe most importantly, what it means for the salmon themselves.

So, first things first, wild or farmed salmon? Wild does sound a lot better to me, but it turns out there's a very real limit to how much wild salmon we can catch sustainably.

>> We're unfortunately at this state right now where to put it simply, the wild fish stocks are just maxed out or almost at, you know, their sustainability limits. Um, and to meet the rising demands for seafood, you know, we need to not deplete the oceans anymore. We need them to be thriving [music] and to be, you know, full of biodiversity and and that's where agriculture can come in.

So, if we want to eat salmon at the scale that we do, well, it kind of

sounds like it has to come from aquaculture.

>> Salmon has only been farmed since the 1960s, and it's grown fast. Since the 80s, global consumption of salmon has tripled, and over 70% of that salmon comes from farms.