BC salmon farmers constantly strive to remain at the forefront of environmental responsibility. An example of this is the industry’s efforts to prioritize sustainable feed ingredients combined with efficient feeding techniques. As a result of these efforts, BC farmed salmon now require as little as 1.2kg of feed to gain 1 kg of body weight and this feed conversion ratio (FCR) has improved over three-fold since 1990.
Wild salmon meet their requirements for protein, fat, and other nutrients by eating smaller fish, such as herring, pelagic amphipods, and krill.1 Since farm raised salmon do not have access to these wild nutrient sources, BC salmon farmers use other nutrients sources (see list below) to create feeds that contain the same balance of nutrients (e.g. protein, fat) that a salmon would consume in the wild. Since the nutritional requirements of salmon change as they grow, BC salmon farmers carefully adjust the nutrient balance of their feeds to support optimal growth and development during each stage of the salmon life cycle.
Farmed salmon feed pellets are generally composed of:2
1 Vancouver Aquarium. Aquafacts: What do salmon eat? https://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/salmon
2 Mowi. 2019. Integrated Annual Report. p. 64. https://issuu.com/hg-9/docs/mowi_annual_report_2018_4e0dacb83168e4?e=19530043/68703955
