Atlantic Salmon

Interesting Info

• Atlantic Salmon come from the North Atlantic Ocean, but they were brought to Australia in the 1800s. Today, they are farmed almost entirely in Tasmania’s cool, clean coastal waters, where conditions mimic their natural environment.
• They are farmed in large sea pens along Tasmania’s east and south coasts, particularly around Macquarie Harbour, Storm Bay, and the Huon River region. Escapees are sometimes caught by anglers in Tasmanian rivers, but they don’t form permanent wild populations.
• In Australian salmon farms, they usually reach 4–6 kg (8–13 lb) in 18–24 months, though some can grow over 10 kg (22 lb). Wild Atlantic Salmon overseas can reach double that size, but farm conditions limit their top end growth.
• They have a streamlined, torpedo-shaped body, bluish-green on the back with silver sides and scattered dark spots. Farmed fish are often slightly rounder than their wild relatives because of controlled diets.
• Farmed salmon eat a specially prepared diet of fish meal, fish oil, and plant-based ingredients. In the wild, they feed on small fish, squid, and crustaceans. Their orange-pink flesh comes mainly from carotenoids in their diet.
• They don’t breed naturally here because water temperatures are too warm for their eggs to survive in the wild. In hatcheries, breeders use chilled freshwater tanks in Tasmania to successfully spawn them.
• n the wild (Northern Hemisphere), they migrate between rivers and the open ocean, diving to depths of over 100 m (330 ft).
• Wild Atlantic Salmon overseas can live up to 8 years, but in Australia’s farming systems, they are generally harvested at 2–3 years old.