This was an entertaining and informative read. I found myself sharing what I learned from this book with those around me. I recommend it to fans of good and highly readable non-fiction.

Salmon Wars is an expose of industrial salmon farming, an outrageously profitable and exploitative business that's producing largescale environmental disasters in addition to fish not nearly as good for us as they're made out to be.

The writers describe harrowing scenes, like beaches smeared with six inches of rotting salmon fat after a massive pen collapsed. But even the day-to-day operations are stomach-churning. The salmon are packed into open-water nets and pumped full of antibiotics intended to counter parasites that expand relentlessly because of the close quarters. The salmon are fed smaller fish, and the scale at which these smaller fish are gathered is also highly damaging to the environment. The farmed salmon also have a negative impact on their wild counterparts when the farmed salmon escape (breeding with wild salmon) and when the farms overlap with wild salmon paths, disrupting migrations and passing parasites onto wild salmon.

A casual reader might find the book quite repetitive at times— we're walked through numerous instances of corporate malfeasance and how local, state, and federal governments mostly let these corporate entities off the hook. I think the intent is that the repeated events stack together to show not only how frequently this is happening but how this is going on right now— this is not history, this is an industry in a sort of marketing war that will determine how the future will look.

And to be honest, I haven't been able to eat salmon since starting the book.

What a fascinating but gross book! I really don't want to eat salmon ever again! This is a very thorough look into the salmon/farm-fishing industry. I liked the level of detail but still easy to understand writing. A must for anyone concerned about ecology and the state of the world.

3.5 stars. i found this very informative and shocking, but also extremely repetitive. lots of information is repeated multiple times, which is just annoying to read. while the expansive focus on many different companies and players in the salmon farming industry provided a broad overview, i think this book could’ve really benefitted from a central “character” to follow. cooke aquaculture somewhat fits this bill, but i don’t believe they go into enough detail to fulfill that feature.

anyways i really do not want to eat salmon now because everything (even the sustainable options highlighted at the end) is a lose-lose situation! it is so hard to eat in the modern world!!!

This was a shocking expose on the business of "farming" salmon.
People may not realize that the majority of the salmon they buy in their favorite supermarket was actually raised in crowded, unsanitary "fish pens", anchored in the ocean. No room to move, fed with unnatural food, rife with diseases.
Even more dangerous, the fish pens are polluting the traditional native salmon waters, and causing native fish to become diseased and die. The author points out, "As often happens when humans tinker with nature, the law of unintended consequences turned plans for a new industry into a threat to both the environment and to the survival of wild salmon".
The book is loaded with evidence of the problem. A few transnational corporations are the controlling factors in the business (Norway). Using their considerable weight, they bully and threaten governments into allowing the continuation of the disaster. Despite overwhelming evidence, the governments are too afraid of losing jobs, or perhaps losing campaign donations, to act.
As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, and a fisherman, this book really struck home with me. I remember a couple of years ago when one of the fish pens "collapsed" in Puget Sound, releasing thousands and thousands of tainted, sick, and non-native salmon into the water. It's no wonder we have observed the crashing of native salmon in our area.
Thankfully, the authors offer some hope. They discuss efforts and programs in the works to stop the fish pens.
We're up against some powerful people, a true David vs. Goliath battle. Let's hope lots of people read this book and get involved. Or, for their own health and well-being, stop buying these fish pen raised salmon.
Fingers crossed!