from the BC ( canada) salmon farmers association. What are the ingredients in fish feed? [go to top] The primary ingredients in salmon feed are fish meal and fish oil made from natural sources such as anchovies and herring. Other ingredients include wheat or grains used as binding agents. Some feeds also contain a pigment that provides the red coloration of the flesh that consumers demand. The pigment, either astaxanthin or canthaxanthin, is derived from yeast or is synthetically produced from pigment which occurs naturally in the wild. Salmon farmers use a combination of antibiotics and husbandry practices to combat diseases. Antibiotic use is declining with production of new and more effective vaccines, stress minimization, selective breeding, domestication of fish and advancements in husbandry practices. In Norway, antibiotic use was cut by over 96% between 1990-94 with the introduction of consistent fallowing, single year class siting and other specific husbandry practices. How are antibiotics used on salmon farms? [go to top] In general, salmon farming is one of the least medicated forms of agriculture. Antibiotics are not used on a continual, long-term basis as they often are in other types of animal husbandry. Rather, in most cases they are used over short periods (5-14 days) to control outbreaks of disease. As much as possible, salmon are treated in early stages of growth. Antibiotics are administered in fish feed and, since antibiotics are costly, they are used sparingly. Medicated feed, like all other feed, is given in concentrations and amounts formulated to avoid wastage. . The government regulates and monitors farmed fish to ensure that the antibiotics completely clear out of the fish's system before they are sent to market. What antibiotics or chemicals are used? [go to top] Only three antibiotics are licensed for use in specifically treating fish diseases: Oxytetracycline, Romet-30 and Tribrissen. Veterinarians can prescribe a limited number of other theraputants, approved for treating other types of animals, in what is known as off-label use. Under these circumstances, the veterinarian takes professional responsibility for the drug's effectiveness and clearance from the fish. Antibiotic residuals are very low, and they completely clear from fish bodies in a matter of days or weeks. Aside from antibiotics, there are very few chemicals used in fish farming. Anesthetics are used to treat a few gallons of water when fish are sampled, weighed and measured. Pigments in the feed are either from natural sources such as yeast or krill or synthetic forms of the same pigments. note that BC might have the advantage to produce 90 % ( i think i read) of salmon feed and that other countries might not have the abundance of sealife to produce their own feed and might use more unaturel (for salmon ) food source than herring and anchovies and maybe more grains. note that the molecules of wheat and other foreign molecules (to the ocean) and antibiotics enter the wild food chain from the uneaten food falling on the sea floor. jean-claude