By a large margin, the factory-farmed animal that is most overlooked is fish—and they are impacted by the trillions, both on fish farms and in the wild. Popular diet staples like salmon are often raised on poorly-regulated factory farms, in which fish are confined in crowded sea cages where they can prematurely die from hazards like low-quality water and parasite infestation. Recently, harmful sea lice outbreaks have plagued fish farms in Europe and around the world, and their negative effects have started to impact wild fish populations, as well.

Even worse, factory-farmed salmon are often fed wild-caught fish—and in large quantities. A given farmed salmon is fed about three times its body weight in wild fish over its lifetime, all of which must be extracted from global marine ecosystems. This is unsustainable, and has led to rapidly-declining fish stocks.

Unfortunately, there is currently no higher welfare certification for fish or shellfish, so we are unable to recommend higher welfare options at this time.

Learn about our campaign asking the five major fish certifications to create meaningful welfare protections for billions of wild-caught and farmed fish here.