More than 120 chefs pledge to stop serving ocean-farmed salmon

More than 120 chefs from 26 countries have signed an open letter saying they will stop serving ocean-farmed Atlantic salmon until production no longer harms wild salmon, marine ecosystems and coastal communities. The campaign is running across major newspapers and Climate Week events, with chefs using their menus and buying power to push demand toward lower-impact seafood.

Why it matters: - The pledge puts culinary influence behind a broader push to change how salmon is produced and served. - The chefs are trying to shift demand away from ocean-farmed Atlantic salmon and toward seafood options they say are less damaging to wild fish, marine ecosystems and coastal economies. - The campaign also targets consumers, restaurants and retailers, not just chefs.

What happened: - More than 120 notable chefs signed an open letter saying they have stopped serving ocean-farmed salmon. - The letter is being published in major newspapers around the world by the Off The Table campaign. - Signatories represent 26 countries across six continents. - The chefs include Francis Mallmann, Matthew Raiford, Alice Waters, Massimo Bottura, Dan Barber, Joan Roca, Mauro Colagreco, Virgilio Martínez, Ángel León, Michael Cimarusti, Grant Achatz, Gabriela Cámara, Norbert Niederkofler, Enrique Olvera and Eneko Atxa. - The letter runs in newspapers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Iceland. - Chefs, restaurants, retailers and consumers can take the pledge at OffTheTable.org.

The details: - Restaurants led by the signatories hold more than 90 current MICHELIN Stars. - Sixteen of those restaurants have three MICHELIN Stars. - Six signatories have led restaurants that reached No. 1 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list: El Celler de Can Roca, Osteria Francescana, Mirazur, Geranium, Central and Maido in Lima, Peru. - The chefs are asking for ocean-farmed salmon to stay off menus until it can be produced without harming marine life, environments and economies. - The campaign encourages more seafood diversity, seasonal and local fish, responsibly produced alternatives and production methods that do not carry the same ecological costs as sea-cage salmon farming. - Suzanne Goin is already replacing ocean-farmed salmon at the Hollywood Bowl with salmon raised in a closed, land-based system. - Goin said chefs can make a different choice at scale without asking guests to give up a food they love. - Investment and sustainable feed innovation are needed to scale land-based systems. - The chefs say those systems can produce the same product consumers expect without threatening marine environments and wild salmon populations. - Industrial ocean farming has made salmon common in grocery stores and restaurants. - Wild Atlantic salmon populations have declined 80% since the 1970s. - An estimated 2.5 million wild Atlantic salmon remain worldwide. - About 650 million Atlantic salmon are raised in ocean cages each year. - Sea cages are open to surrounding waters, which allows waste, sea lice, disease, pesticides, antibiotics and escaped fish to affect nearby ecosystems and wild salmon migration routes. - The feed used in sea cages includes wild-caught forage fish that other marine life and subsistence fishers in food-insecure regions depend on. - The chefs argue that labels such as “responsibly raised,” “organic” and “ocean-raised” do not change the underlying production system. - The chefs also reject marketing images that suggest pristine cold-water environments. - Jeremy Charles said wild salmon in Newfoundland is part of rivers, food culture and local identity, and that its disappearance would erase something irreplaceable. - The signatories include four former winners of The World’s Best Female Chef: Dominique Crenn, Ana Roš, Pía León and Elena Reygadas. - The list also includes former Latin America’s Best Female Chef winners Narda Lepes and Manu Buffara. - Other signatories include seafood authorities Josh Niland and Michael Cimarusti, plus food-system leaders Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Sam Kass and Mark Bittman. - Two hand-painted murals are on display in New York City through Oct. 18: a Manhattan mural at Lafayette St. & Astor Pl. and a Gowanus mural at 3rd St. & 3rd Ave. - Patagonia’s Brooklyn store hosted an Off The Table and Patagonia Provisions event on Sept. 22. - The campaign is part of Off The Table’s Climate Week programming. - Additional chefs can sign the letter after publication. - The campaign is backed by organizations including the Atlantic Salmon Federation, North Atlantic Salmon Fund, Protect Maine, Living Oceans, Patagonia Provisions, LOOP Tackle and the Global Salmon Farming Resistance. - Off The Table is a coalition campaign coordinated by WildFish, an independent charity focused on protecting wild fish populations and the ecosystems that depend on them.

Between the lines: - The campaign is trying to turn a menu decision into a market signal. - By linking chef prestige to seafood sourcing, Off The Table is aiming to normalize a premium-food standard that treats ocean-farmed salmon as a problem to solve rather than a default ingredient. - The push also reflects a broader argument that seafood sustainability is not just about better labels, but about changing production systems.

What's next: - More chefs can add their names after publication. - The campaign will keep using Climate Week events, murals and newspaper placements to expand public pressure. - Off The Table says it will continue steering chefs and consumers toward seafood alternatives that do not carry the same ecological costs.