Salmon are at the base of many First Nations culture with songs, dances, visual arts and legends based on the lives of salmon. First Nations of B.C., including Bella Coola, Nootka, Tlingit and others, have relied on salmon as a primary source of subsistence before the salmon populations began declining. Farm salmon are raised for market in large undersea cages, or net pens, off the B.C. coast and tend to get eaten in the ocean should they escape. Atlantic salmon are the most commonly farmed salmon because they have better growth and survival rates on farms than the Pacific salmon. Chinook and coho are also raised in B.C. Salmon aquaculture is the name given to raising farm salmon.
Farm salmon help conserve wild salmon populations by providing an alternative source for consumers.
There are diverse predators of salmon at the varying stages of their lives. Other fishes, members of their own species, snakes and birds eat salmon fry. Once in the ocean, salmon are prey to whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, other fishes and, of course, humans. Bears and birds often scoop up spawning salmon. A salmon's diet depends on the species and region, but typically juvenile salmon eat zooplankton, marine and larval and adult insects.