Faroese salmon farms remove up to 4.5 million juvenile fish each year

Faroese salmon farms remove an estimated one million to 4.5 million juvenile fish each year, according to a new estimate by Firum, reported by KVF.

The fish swim into salmon cages and grow too large to escape, so they are removed. Researchers examined the stomachs of 314 farmed salmon at six farms to find out whether salmon eat the juvenile fish. They also analysed records of fish removals at four farms from 2017 to 2025.

The estimate was presented by Kirstin Eliasen, a researcher at Firum. She is among the speakers at the conference “Knowledge for sustainable aquaculture”, organised by Firum.