Target, the US mass discounter, has become the first leading US food retailer to stop selling farmed salmon in its stores, citing the negative impact of salmon farming on the environment.

The retailer said on Tuesday that its own brand fresh, frozen and smoked salmon will now be wild-caught from Alaskan fisheries, “to ensure that its salmon offerings are sourced in a sustainable way that helps to preserve abundance, species health and doesn’t harm local habitats”.

The move reflects concern among environmentalists over the impact of intensive salmon farming, which has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years to provide about three quarters of all fresh and frozen salmon consumed in the US.

The availability of low cost farmed salmon has also undermined wild salmon fishing, with the value of last year’s catch in Alaska of $230m being worth less than half of the value of annual catches in the late 1980s.

Target’s move was welcomed by Greenpeace USA, the environmental group. Greenpeace launched a campaign in 2008 to pressure US retailers to adopt more sustainable seafood buying practices.

The group argues that the salmon farming industry causes an unacceptable level of environmental contamination and other damage.