Mission and Vision
We envision oceans free from open-net salmon farming, which will allow depleted marine ecosystems to thrive once more. Our mission is to share actions and information to halt the expansion of the salmon industry and remove open-net salmon farms from oceans worldwide.
Our history
Around the world, coastal communities have long raised concerns about open-net salmon farming. The marine ecosystems where salmon feedlots operate have deteriorated, impacting coastal communities dependent on healthy oceans.
Our slogan “Global Problem; Local Solutions,” represents that local campaigns can actually have a global impact, when amplified through collaboration. The GSFR grew out of a local campaign into a global movement.
In 2018, the Norwegian and Argentinian governments signed an agreement to install intensive salmon farms in the Beagle Channel.
With support from Chileans with years of first-hand experience in salmon farming and from international NGOs and activists, local organisations, civil society, and politicians from Argentina came together against open-nets in Tierra del Fuego, Antártida, e Islas del Atlántico Sur (TFAIAS).
After three years of intense campaigning, on July 31, 2021, the local government of TFAIAS unanimously passed a law prohibiting intensive salmon farming in the Beagle Channel. This event was unprecedented. It’s worth noting that TFAIAS is the only province in Argentina where the geography allows intensive salmon farming. By implementing this ban within provincial waters, an unexpected limit on intensive salmon farming across the nation emerged, taking the industry by surprise.
This unexpected ban in Argentina and the work of global activists like Doug Tompkins, Yvon Chouinard, Alexandra Morton, Frederik Mowinckel, Cristina Mittermeier, Don Staniford, Martina Sasso, Maia Gutierrez, Corin Smith, and others, demonstrated that more collaboration was needed across the different communities worldwide.
In November 2021, the GSFR brought together dozens of groups, representing 13 nations, to share resources and coordinate strategies to save and restore marine ecosystems around the world.
Our Approach
The GSFR’s purpose is to facilitate a more organised global activist movement against open-net salmon farming. The key initiatives will be: