"Farmed" salmon are salmon raised for human consumption in floating pens in salt water, mostly in protected sounds and bays. Farmed salmon make up about 75 % of the salmon consumed in the U.S. and about 85% world-wide. Atlantic salmon is the species of choice for salmon farming operations.

The first successful salmon farm in the world was established in Norway in the early 1970's. Due to the wild stocks of salmon being depleted, the uncertainty and expense of catching wild salmon at sea, it made sense to try to grow them in captivity for the marketplace.

Some salmon farming facts:

* Atlantic salmon were chosen over other species because they survive and gain weight better than other species.

* Sounds and bays are chosen for floating fish farms because they are protected from the battering seas and are closer to markets.

* Fish farm sites must have good tidal movement to circulate fresh oxygenated water though the pens and to remove waste matter.

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* Salmon fingerlings, called smolt, are raised by commercial growers in freshwater hatcheries for about a year before being introduces into the "net cages".

* Unlike some misconceptions about cramped quarters "net cages" are about 50 to 100 feet on a side and 30 to 70 feet deep. Cage bottoms are kept will of the ocean floor to ensure constant water exchange.

* Carotenoid pigment produces the rich red hue in both wild and farmed salmon. Wild salmon receives this pigment through sources such as krill and other crustaceans; farmed salmon receive this same pigment (astaxanthin and canthaxanthin) in their feed. These pigments are called cartenoids and are a form of beta carotene. Both of these substances are antioxidants that provide the reddish color to many vegetables and also several animals including lobsters, shrimp and the yolks of hen's eggs.

* No toxins which affect humans have ever been documented as a result of salmon faming.