Salmon farming provides jobs and is easily accessible food to local and big markets. With how big our population is, the demand for food grows. Our need for animal-based foods is up by 50%; animal-based foods provide us with many benefits, including high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals. Salmon is becoming a huge market for the fish industry, and with the rising demand for the fish market, fish farms and salmon farms are needed to keep up with the influx of fish consumption. Salmon farming also takes relief off of wild-caught salmon and helps wild salmon repopulate, while some fish farms are more ecologically responsible than traditional fishing. 

Jobs in salmon farming provide $1.5 billion a year to the economy. Salmon farming can create many job opportunities and help with the seafood deficit around the U.S. Jobs in fisheries can help provide year-round jobs to people on the waterfront (Citta Paramita, 2021.) It also creates additional jobs in other industries, such as feed manufacturing, cage manufacturing, and veterinary services. In 2012, Americans imported 230 thousand metric tons of farmed salmon valued at $1.6 billion. Expanding US-farmed salmon production to replace imports would create 14,000 to 23,000 new American jobs—the U.S. needs more jobs with our growing population. Not only do more businesses need to be created, but quality jobs also need to be created to create a stable work environment which salmon farming can do. Salmon farming can create stable jobs for many and employ 5-10 people per thousand metric tons of annual production (Odd Grydeland, February 2018.) Salmon farming doesn't just help with jobs in the U.S. but also worldwide with unemployment and helps create stable and long-term work. 

How are sustainable salmon farms made? Salmon farms can be created in outdoor ponds or indoor tanks. Ponds take more upkeep but are a more natural way to keep salmon. While tanks are easier to maintain and keep the temperature regulated, they need a good filtration system to keep the water clean (Lisa Price, 2022.) The use of a filtration system or re-circulation system helps clear the water of pollutants and waste. Using plant-based feed instead of wild fish feed can pollute the water and is hard to filtrate. Though these systems are better and more sustainable, wild-caught salmon can be most sustainable. Creating renewable energy sources is a big part of making a sustainable fish/salmon farm. This is because most fisheries rely on fossil fuels to sustain their farm. Renewable energy in fisheries could help reduce the carbon emissions released by fish farms. Minimizing the amount of chemicals used to treat the fish can help keep the farm more sustainable while also making it more healthy to consume. Consistently monitored water quality is a big part of sustainability in fish farming; keeping the water clean where the fish live is important in keeping healthy fish. Water Ph that changes frequently can harm the fish and create a loss in production. This is also the same with the temperature of the water. If the water rises in temperature, it can also cause a loss in production. A stable water environment for farmed salmon keeps it from diseases and helps keep the farm sustainable. 

What is the difference between farmed salmon and wild-caught? Wild-caught salmon is caught straight from the water; these fish are not given anything they would not eat in the wild or given any additives. Depending on where the salmon was caught and if there was any pollution in the water, and what the salmon's diet was, salmon provides omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (Melinda Ratini, 2021.) Farmed salmon are raised in tanks or enclosures where they get controlled food and antibiotics that prevent disease. Farmed salmon is easily accessible and makes up 75% of the U.S. consumption of salmon. Farmed salmon does raise the risk of type two diabetes and may be higher in saturated fat. Both ways of catching salmon can be sustainable if done correctly and both can be done in harmful ways. As stated previously, farmed salmon can help with the loss of wild salmon and help them repopulate. 

Sea lice is an international problem consisting of many different countries and communities. Sea lice continues to negatively affect fishing countries with rich fishing cultures and their native communities that have long since been around before larger companies started to push for profits. The issue of sea lice has started a chain reaction of negative events that has only worsened the problem on a larger scale. If action is not taken soon the number of healthy fish in the global ecosystem will decrease, moreover the number of humans becoming infected from contaminated fish. Finally pollution will only get worse as the continual standards are used for the problem of sea lice. 

Sea lice have inadvertently caused a global salmon crisis. Salmon fishing is a major industry on a global scale. Many different countries other than the U.S. have salmon farming industries that have become large scale. Such countries include Chile and Norway that combined are responsible for producing 75% of the world's supply of salmon. However, because of sea lice countries have looked to antibiotics and pesticides to destroy the parasites. Now in recent years we have seen an unregulated amount of chemicals leading to the rapid spreading of disease, malnutrition, and pollution.(R. M. 2020)The Chilean economy is dependent on the salmon fish farming industry. In addition, presently there is a rich artisanal fishing culture that is due to Chile's diverse marine ecosystem. To keep up with today's demand Chile has overpopulated their salmon farming population that has increased disease spread. In response Chilean salmon farming has looked towards drugs like florfenicol and oxytetracycline in large amounts. In comparison the leading producer of the fish Norway only used 2,412 pounds of these antibiotics, while Chile used 1.2 million pounds. These drugs are regularly seen in Veterinary and human medicines delaying conclusive studies before companies can be regulated on the amount used. Furthermore the use of these drugs have polluted the water and threatened the surrounding indigenous communities of Chile. Salmon byproducts and the chemicals leaking into the natural ecosystem are lethal to the native populations and develop micro resistant bacteria that can infect humans.

The infestation of sea lice has many significant issues that correlate with salmon farming and the entire industry. In comparison, through experiments and research, scientists are beginning to test not only the effects of sea lice, but also the benefits that come with harvesting another species next to salmon. Many more solutions are being brought to the forefront of the whole problem to try and reduce the long lasting effects sea lice will soon pose to salmon farms. The most common sea lice treatment involves drug and pesticide use, a method that can be effective, however, has more of a negative overall impact to the fish (SeafoodSource 2019). 

Along with this health impact, the salmon that are treated by chemicals are not able to be sold for days to weeks afterwards due to the chemicals needing to flush out and attack the sea lice (Global Seafood Alliance 2). To make matters worse, the treatment can end up being ineffective if the salmon have built up a resistance to sea lice treatment overtime, an immune evolution. While the chemical treatments may seem to be the easier option for getting rid of sea lice, they are at fault in the same ways that chemicals are used on any other type of species. There are always undermining side effects that come with chemicals and pesticides, health is not the first priority. 

In comparison to this first attempt at solving the greater sea lice issue, researchers and scientists are looking into safer and healthier options for reducing the sea lice infestation. In aquaculture, scientists attempt to use other, cleaner, unaffected, fish species to combat sea lice. Farmed Ballan Wrasse and Lumpfish are known to feed on sea lice which makes them extremely beneficial to the aquaculture environment (Global Seafood Alliance). Researchers are exploring and looking into the behavioral traits of cleaner fish and their inheritance. Breeding programs could use these cleaner, more versatile fish to try and carry over the traits of eating sea lice in order to decrease the amounts found in salmon farms. 

According to Global Seafood, “A previous SAIC-study funded showed that bolder Ballan Wrasse are likely to be a better fit for the job of picking sea lice from salmon. The bolder fish showed no hesitation when presented with foreign objects in their tanks, and the research team is now exploring how to use this type of test on a commercial scale. (Global Seafood Alliance)” The breeding programs can come into effect once the distinction between bigger and bolder fish versus smaller ones takes place to decipher which is more effective overall.

Categorizing different traits and then comparing them to how they perform at picking sea lice from salmon will be the main goal. Dr. Adam Brooker, a research fellow in aquatic animal behavior at the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture stated, “Being able to identify the best delousers, based on behavior, could lead to significant improvements in the health and welfare of salmon and a reduction in the number of cleaner fish used. Seeing how cleaner fish behave when cohabiting will also help us understand how these fish interact with each other so we can account for this once they are integrated into producers’ sites” (Global Seafood Alliance).The psychological evidence found through these species of Lumpfish and Ballan Wrasse could provide more beneficial results in the future. 

A simpler solution that strays away from genetics and breeding was constructed by the AKVA Group who is collaborating with Northern Lights Salmon and Sørrollnesfisk. This specific idea is correlated with the infrastructure we already have in use and what we can do to make it more sustainable and useful to the problem. A new net-pen would be launched to combat the sea lice. Christian Balteskard, Project Manager for Northern Lights Salmon and Sørrollnesfisk states in relation to the net, “It is a spaghetti net with a custom-made lice skirt, where the skirt is attached both at the top and bottom of the net, we can go down to a full 15 meters with a lice skirt without experiencing too much deformation” (Global Seafood Alliance).

While this option may be less tactical because it only targets the space it has so far in comparison to the rest of the salmon farms, it will be convenient. By looking for a solution that is easily accessible and close at hand, sustainable results can be found much faster. The net will provide the ability to see how the experiment works and whether or not the nets should be invested on a larger scale.