Global salmon populations are in trouble. How will the trend affect groceries in Canada?

A new report from Concordia University shows global salmon populations are on the decline. Professor James Grant shares why and what the consequences will be.

A new report has found young wild salmon populations are decreasing around the world, with the trend expected to have “minimal” impact on fresh fish at grocery stores in Canada.

However, James Grant, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal and co-author of the study, says if the decline continues to accelerate, shoppers will see more of an effect on prices of certain fish products.

The Concordia University study shows wild salmon, trout and related fish known as salmonids have declined globally by nearly 40 per cent since 1980. The study was published in the journal Fish and Fisheries. It is based on data from more than 1,000 rivers and streams in 27 countries involving 11 salmonid species. The fish sampling noted in the data occurred from 1937 to 2021.

Most salmon or trout sold in Canadian grocery stores are typically from aquaculture, or fish farms, which Grant says is different from fish caught wild from oceans, adding that most of the wild salmon he sees at grocery stores are typically canned.

“Our study shows that salmonid numbers are down over a long period of time,” Grant told CTVNews.ca in a Zoom interview Tuesday. “That’s probably why aquaculture has moved into that space at providing … inexpensive, high quality fish protein.”

‘A huge environmental cost’

The Concordia study focused on wild fish and the rivers and streams where they spawn, not fish that are sold in grocery stores and born in aquaculture. At the same time, Grant said wild salmon populations are decreasing.

“Aquaculture has made fish prices very inexpensive, but there’s a huge environmental cost that we’re all paying, including that’s one of the main drivers of the decreases in wild salmon,” Grant said.

He said aquaculture fishes are a source of potentially deadly sea lice and can pollute the ocean floor with their waste -- both negatively affecting wild fish.

Grant says the fishes that Concordia researchers studied are the smaller types that Canadians might catch at the cottage, as well as wild juvenile fishes that travel from streams to the ocean and grow to become bigger adults that people or trawlers may catch.

“If the juveniles are in decline in rivers, then the adults are inevitably going to be in decline as well,” Grant said, adding that the researchers focused on salmon streams because more data is available and they’re more accessible to humans.

“But streams are embedded within our forests and farms,” he said. “And so streams give you a very good indication of how we’re treating our flowing water in Canada and the rest of the world.”

Other impacts of salmon’s decline

Salmon species are in trouble not only on the West Coast.

“On the East Coast, the Atlantic salmon has been in decline for a long time,” Grant said in a separate interview with CTV Your Morning on Tuesday. “We no longer fish them, and even the sport fishing industry is primarily catch and release because the numbers are so low. So huge economic costs we are paying.”

The salmon’s plight is also detrimental in other ways.

The loss of fish is devastating for Indigenous Peoples across the country who have close relationships to these fish, including those on the West Coast who built their cultures around Pacific salmon, Grant said.

Fishing is one of the top hobbies for Canadians, he told Your Morning.

“It generates money for our economy and makes us feel better about the world,” Grant said. “These fish are also great indicators of ecosystem health.”

In a May 27 press release from Concordia, lead author Kyleisha Foote noted that the sharp decline is not surprising but it’s hard to determine the exact cause. She said many rivers are suffering from serious issues related to habitat degradation, climate warming and overexploitation.

Watch the video above for the full CTV Your Morning interview.