Aquaculture continues to be the fastest growing animal food-producing sector to outpace population growth. Per capita supply from aquaculture increased from 0.7 kg in 1970 to 7.8 kg in 2006, an average annual growth rate of 6.9 percent. Aquaculture is set to overtake the capture fisheries as a source of food fish by 2030. Per FAO projections, it is estimated that to maintain the current level of per capita consumption, global aquaculture production will need to reach 80 million tonnes by 2050 . The farmed salmon industry is the fastest growing product line in aquaculture, projected growth of 8.5 % annually.

As the graph to the leftabove indicates, farmed fish is approaching wild catch levels and has been larger than beef production since 2012. Additionally, the FAO expects that the world food supply MUST double by 2050 within the same footprint of current food production.

In the Americas and Europe, salmon and related fish are the largest component of the aquaculture business. The farmed salmon industry has a few dominate players with one Norwegian company accounting for at least 25% of the world farmed salmon market. In Canada, the dominate company is based in New Brunswick. This fact alone makes for knowledge of issues and opportunities and contact with decision makers. As reported by the Atlantic Canada Farmed Fish Association, salmon is the most efficient converter of inputs (feed) into outputs (growth) making it the most important future source of protein in the world’s food chain. It takes about 1kg of feed to produce 1kg of farmed salmon - compared to beef at 10:1 and chicken at 2:1. Additionally, farmed salmon has a considerable lower carbon footprint as compared to pork and beef.