Commercial Atlantic salmon farming is a rapidly expanding and highly controversial industry in Iceland, utilizing intensive open-net pen systems anchored within coastal fjords. Over recent decades, production tonnages have scaled dramatically to meet surging international export demands for fresh salmon. However, this rapid industrial growth has sparked intense debate among conservationists, local communities, and government regulators due to documented environmental challenges, including massive fish mortality rates from diseases, severe sea lice infestations, organic waste pollution on the seabed, and the continuous ecological threat posed by farmed escapees interbreeding with vulnerable native wild salmon populations.