“We applaud Triodos’ principled decision to divest from salmon farming… The writing is on the wall for the global salmon corporations; we now look to other financiers including Rabobank, DNB Bank and Nordea to follow Triodos’ example and pull their support from Big Salmon.” 

Natasha Hurley, Deputy Director at Foodrise

• Ethical investor, Triodos Investment Management (Triodos IM), has withdrawn its investments in the salmon farming sector, following the sale of its last shares in one of the world’s largest salmon farming companies, Bakkafrost, in September.
• The decision comes after soaring mortality rates at Bakkafrost’s Scottish subsidiary resulted in a multi-million-euro financial hit to the company this year.
• In 2025, Foodrise revealed that, as of November 2024, Triodos IM had US $16 million invested in Bakkafrost and called on it to ‘break up’ with salmon farming in light of the environmental and social harms caused by the industry.

Triodos IM has divested from Bakkafrost, a major producer of farmed salmon based in the Faroe Islands, and no longer holds any investments in salmon farming, following pressure from campaigners revealing the destructive reality of this industry. In 2025, Foodrise published data [1] showing that, as of November  2024, Triodos IM had US $16 million invested in Bakkafrost, and ran a campaign urging it to divest its holding in the company.

The same research identified Bakkafrost as one of salmon farming’s leading recipients of investment and credit from multinational banks and investors, as well as a public subsidy of £2 million from the Marine Fund Scotland for its Scottish subsidiary in 2021.

Salmon mortality rates linked to disease and chemical usage at Bakkafrost’s Scottish subsidiary have soared in recent years, with two of its sites (Druimyeon Bay and East Tarbet) reporting more than 80% mortality in recent years. [2] This trend has persisted into 2026, with the company’s Vuia Mor fish farm in Loch Roag, Isle of Lewis, recording almost 50% mortality earlier this year. [3] This has resulted in a huge financial hit to the company totalling EUR 5.6 million in the third quarter of 2026 alone. [4]

In 2025, Bakkafrost Scotland reported a 17% annual fish mortality rate [5] across its Scottish farms, a significant jump from the reported 10% mortality rate in 2019 when the company took over the Scottish Salmon Company. [6]

Responsible investors beat a retreat from salmon farming

Until recently, the booming aquaculture sector has been viewed within responsible finance circles as offering attractive opportunities [7] for global lenders and investors keen to diversify their portfolios away from land-based animal protein production. Salmon farming companies have been at the forefront of this [8] , and have benefited from significant inflows of capital and other forms of financial support which have turbocharged the sector’s growth over the past five decades.

However, with evidence stacking up of the huge environmental and social harms caused by salmon farming and other forms of extractive aquaculture, investors are now beginning to beat a retreat.

Natasha Hurley, Deputy Director at Foodrise, said: “We applaud Triodos’ principled decision to divest from salmon farming. This shows true leadership and sends a powerful signal to other lenders and investors to turn off the money tap that is fuelling the expansion of this hugely destructive industry. The writing is on the wall for the global salmon corporations; we now look to other financiers including Rabobank, DNB Bank and Nordea to follow Triodos’ example and pull their support from Big Salmon.”

Catalina Cendoya, Director of Global Salmon Farming Resistance, said: “Investors are increasingly led by ESG data and ethics. They are now seeing what really lies behind the salmon farming industry, which for years was sold as part of a ‘blue revolution’ promising sustainable, healthy protein. But mass mortalities, polluted waters and damage done to communities show a very different picture. Bakkafrost is not an isolated case: the same story is repeating itself across the world. We congratulate Foodrise and the many organisations around the world working to bring this reality to light, and praise Triodos for making the right call. Many experts predict such decisions will become the rule rather than the exception.”

Nick Underdown, Scotland Director at WildFish, said: "On behalf of endangered wild fish populations across the UK, we salute Triodos for divesting from the destructive salmon farming industry. Losing the support of ethical investors is the inevitable consequence for an industry that is inherently unsustainable. No responsible investor or shareholder wants to be associated with biodiversity loss and driving the extinction of the iconic wild Atlantic salmon. From chefs refusing to serve farmed salmon, to local communities campaigning against new salmon farm applications, Triodos joins a growing movement of people and organisations taking principled action against an industry that is causing net harm to our rivers and oceans. Recovering our wild fish populations and their habitats is something truly worth investing in."

Ola Janus, Banks and Nature Campaign Lead at BankTrack said: “Forward-looking banks are starting to recognise that industrial farming cannot be done ethically or sustainably and allocate capital accordingly. Concrete action like dropping a whole harmful sector from the portfolio shows that the bank takes commitment to nature protection, human rights and climate action seriously. We can’t wait to see more banks align their business with planetary boundaries."

Notes to editors:

• Based in the Faroe Islands and Scotland, Bakkafrost claims to be the world’s most vertically integrated salmon farming company [9], owning all parts of its supply chain from feed to finished product. It acquired the Scottish Salmon Company in 2019, renaming it Bakkafrost Scotland. [10]
• According to Foodrise research, between January 2015–November 2024, Bakkafrost received US$2.8 billion of credit and US$2.1 billion of investment from international financiers. The biggest creditors to Bakkafrost during this period were Nordea, DNB, Rabobank and Goldman Sachs, while the biggest investors were Government Pension Fund Norway (GPFN), Sprucegrove Investment Management, Nordea, Svenska Handelsbanken and DNB. [11]
• In 2021 Bakkafrost secured a multiannual sustainability-linked credit facility of EUR 700 million plus a EUR 150 million accordion option backed by Rabobank, DNB Bank and Nordea Bank. [12] This will mature in Q1 2029. [13]

List of references:

1. https://foodrise.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Fishy-Finances-Report-March-2025.pdf 

2. https://wildfish.org/latest-news/new-wildfish-report-finds-consumers-could-be-misled-as-to-the-reality-of-the-farmed-salmon-they-are-purchasing/ 

3. https://www.thenational.scot/news/26553567.scottish-fish-farm-records-nearly-50-per-cent-mortality-rate/

4. https://www.salmonbusiness.com/bakkafrost-scottish-mortality-costs-reach-e5-6-million-in-third-quarter/

5. https://www.bakkafrost.com/en/sustainability/data/

6. https://www.salmonbusiness.com/bakkafrost-acquires-more-than-two-thirds-of-scottish-salmon-company/

7. https://www.bnpparibas-am.com/en/forward-thinking/investing-responsibly-in-the-fast-growing-farmed-fish-sector/

8. https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/n1/en/why-investors-are-looking-into-norwegian-aquaculture-production.html

9. https://www.bakkafrostscotland.com/

10. https://www.bakkafrostscotland.com/news/the-scottish-salmon-company-renames-operations-in-scotland

11. https://foodrise.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Fishy-Finances-Report-March-2025.pdf

12. https://news.cision.com/bakkafrost/r/bakkafrost--refinancing,c3470081

13. https://www.bakkafrost.com/en/investor/financial-strategy/debt-financing