4Salt,

I care deeply for wild/native fish. My decision to purchase wild salmon did not occur without reason. If you think you're doing a good thing for wild salmonids by buying farm-raised salmon/steelhead, think again! I'm not a commercial fisheries expert, but consider the points below:

1) Many farm raised fish can escape from net pens and spread disease to wild fish.
2) Some of the fish that escape are capable of establishing spawning populations that could compete with native species. Some of these fish may be genetically modified to grow quicker than native fish.
3) Net pens are a huge source of near-shore polution.
4) Most commercially available wild salmon comes from Alaska and BC, where the commercial take of many wild salmon stocks is now based on returns. Thank Trout Unlimited for essentially authoring the US-Canada salmon treaty that established an abundance-based salmon take.
5) Supporting local commercial fishing in a moderate, abundance-based fashion helps to justify to the public the need to protect our fish and fish habitat.

If anyone has other supporting or contradictory information or opinions, I'd be curious to read it.

WC