Find Seafood - Wild Salmon

While there are species of wild salmon found in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, only the five primary Pacific species have many healthy populations. Atlantic and farmed salmon are generally considered problematic from an environmental perspective – conservationists object to current aquaculture practices that inlcude the use of fishmeal and fish oil (from wild fish sources), the spread of disease and resulting reliance on antibiotics and other chemicals, and threats to wild fish from escapes of farmed fish. And wild Atlantic salmon stocks are endangered or threatened throughout much of their native range.

Conservation groups rate the following Pacific salmon species as sustainable seafood choices; additionally, all wild Alaskan salmon have been certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Click on the individual species names below for complete species information, conservation notes, product form and buying tips.

Chinook (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha): Chinook salmon, also known as “king” salmon, is found from the Yukon River in Alaska to central California, and is the largest of the five Pacific species with an average weight of 11-18 pounds.

Chum (Oncorhynchus keta): Chum salmon, also referred to as “dog” or “keta” salmon, average about eight pounds and have the widest geographic range of all Pacific salmon with runs in Japan, Russia, and along the Pacific coast of North America from Washington State to Arctic Alaska.

Coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch): Also known as “silver” salmon, coho is caught from Oregon to Alaska, is slightly smaller than chum salmon, and accounts for less than 10 percent of U.S. wild salmon catches most years.

Pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha): Pink salmon are the smallest of the Pacific species but are the most abundant, usually accounting for more than half of the U.S. commercial wild salmon catch.

Sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka): The sockeye salmon fishery is the second largest – and most valuable – wild salmon fishery in North America, with 75 percent of the global catch originating in Alaskan waters.