Connection: Freshwater Farming

In the Pacific Northwest, the Atlantic salmon rules the roost in fish farming. Washington raises about 15 million pounds of the fish annually, in what turns out to be a business worth more than $40 million a year.

“With our conditions here - we have cool water conditions, salmonids are clearly the fish of choice,” said Steve Harbell a Washington State University aquaculture specialist. For the most part, fish farmers in the region raise salmon and trout and have been doing so for at least 20 years.

Idaho’s farm-raised trout account for about 70 percent of U.S. production. For the state, the industry brings in more than $90 million a year.

While Midwest farmers are looking at recirculation system aquaculture, Northwest farmers like those in Twin Falls, Idaho, make use of fresh water to raise their fish.

“Idaho has the advantage in the Twin Falls/Snake River Canyon,” Harbell said. “They have fresh artesian water there.”