Comment from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard on Iceland's Aquaculture Bill

The following is the public comment submitted from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard to the Icelandic government regarding the latest version of the aquaculture bill introduced in December 2025. You can submit your own comment here.

When I visited Iceland in 2022, I spoke with then-President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson about the threat posed by open-net pen salmon farms. At the time, I described the global fight against these environmental scourges as a war we could win. I still believe that, but the recent version of Iceland's aquaculture bill released in December was a stark reminder of how determined the salmon farming industry is to use every fjord and coastline for profit.

I've been visiting Iceland to fish regularly since 1960 and have fished in eight or 10 rivers for salmon over the years. The decline has been stunning, and open-net pen fish farms are a cause. As you all know, these fish farms poison marine environments with waste and antibiotics. They cause sea lice infestations whose harsh-chemical treatments may end up killing crustaceans down current.

When the pens are breached or collapse, tens of thousands of genetically inferior salmon escape. They outcompete wild salmon with sheer numbers and, if they breed, produce offspring without the generational knowledge and the fitness that comes from a wild lineage. We see this time and time again anywhere these farms exist. You saw it in Iceland in 2024 with the Arctic Fish breach and in 2021 with the Arnarlax escape.

Iceland is a country of unique wilderness and beauty. The company I founded, Patagonia, made a film about what's at stake called "Laxaþjóð | A Salmon Nation." I recommend you watch it and listen to the voices of the more than 65 percent of Icelanders who oppose open-net pen salmon farming and recognize these farms are not economic solutions. They are environmental and ecological disasters.

I've long considered Iceland to be a role model for other countries in the way you successfully and modestly live with nature. Your population is educated, and your systems honor their will. I hope in this case you do as well.

Sincerely,

Yvon Chouinard
Founder, Patagonia