page_title: Chinook salmon
section_title: Aquaculture
hierarchical_section_title: Chinook salmon / Fishing industry / Aquaculture
caption_attribution_description: English: Aquacultural production of Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, by country in thousand tonnes in 2010, as reported by the FAO. Based on data sourced from the FishStat database
context_page_description: The Chinook salmon is the largest species in the Pacific salmon genus Oncorhynchus. The common name refers to the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, Quinnat salmon, spring salmon, chrome hog, and Tyee salmon. The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name chavycha.
  Chinook are anadromous fish native to the North Pacific Ocean and the river systems of western North America, ranging from California to Alaska, as well as Asian rivers ranging from northern Japan to the Palyavaam River in the Arctic northeast Siberia. They have been introduced to other parts of the world, including New Zealand, the Great Lakes of North America, and Patagonia. A large Chinook is a prized and sought-after catch for a sporting angler. The flesh of the salmon is also highly valued for its dietary nutritional content, which includes high levels of important omega-3 fatty acids. Some populations are endangered; however, many are healthy. The Chinook salmon has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List.
context_section_description: The world's largest producer and market supplier of the Chinook salmon is New Zealand. Marketed as King salmon, in 2009, New Zealand exported 5,088 tonnes of salmon equating to a value of NZ$61 million in export earnings. For the year ended March 2011, this amount had increased to NZ$85 million. New Zealand accounts for about half of the global production of Chinook salmon, and about half of New Zealand's production is exported. Japan is New Zealand's largest export market, with stock also being supplied to other countries of the Pacific Rim, including Australia.
  Farming of the species in New Zealand began in the 1970s, when hatcheries were initially set up to enhance and support wild fish stocks with the first commercial operations initiating in 1976. After some opposition against their establishment by societal groups, including anglers, the first sea cage farm was established in 1983 at Big Glory Bay in Stewart Island by British Petroleum NZ Ltd.
  Today, the salmon are hatched in land-based hatcheries (several of which exist) and transferred to sea cages or freshwater farms, where they are grown out to harvestable size of 3–4 kilograms (6.6–8.8 lb). The broodstock for the farms is usually selected from existing farm stock or sometimes sourced from wild populations. Eggs and milt are stripped manually from sexually mature salmon and incubated under conditions replicating the streams and rivers where the salmon would spawn naturally (around 10–12 °C (50–54 °F)). After hatching, the baby salmon are typically grown to smolt stage (around six-months of age) before they are transferred to the sea cages or ponds. Most sea cage farming occurs in the Marlborough Sounds, Stewart Island, and Akaroa Harbour, while freshwater operations in Canterbury, Otago, and Tasman use ponds, raceways, and hydrocanals for growout operations.
  Low stocking densities, ranging between less than 1 kg/m3 and around 25 kg/m3 (depending on the life stage of the salmon) and the absence of disease in the fish means New Zealand farmers do not need to use antibiotics or vaccines to maintain the health of their salmon stocks. The salmon are fed food pellets of fish meal specially formulated for Chinook salmon (typical proportions of the feed are: 45% protein, 22% fat, and 14% carbohydrate plus ash and water) and contain no steroids or other growth enhancers.
  Regulations and monitoring programmes ensure salmon are farmed in a sustainable manner. The planning and approval process for new salmon farms in New Zealand considers the farm's potential environmental effects, its effects on fishing activities (if it is a marine farm), and any possible cultural and social effects. In the interest of fish welfare, a number of New Zealand salmon farming operations anaesthetise salmon before slaughter using Aqui-S™, an organically based anaesthetic developed in New Zealand that is safe for use in food and that has been favourably reported on by the British Humane Slaughter Association. In recognition of the sustainable, environmentally conscious practices, the New Zealand salmon farming industry has been acknowledged as the world's greenest by the Global Aquaculture Performance Index.
  Chile is the only country other than New Zealand currently producing significant quantities of farmed Chinook salmon. The United States has not produced farmed Chinook in commercial quantities since 1994. In Canada, most commercial salmon production ceased by 2009.
caption: Aquaculture production as reported by the FAO for 2010[21]
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