Genetically Modified Salmon

[Tim Smith]

Got this note from Trout Unlimited today. This is about salmon but it won't be long till they're making other frankenfish.

TU is asking for online petition signatures HERE.

Dear Friend,

The FDA is close to approving genetically modified salmon for human consumption. This decision could be disastrous for wild salmon in the U.S. and around the world. We simply can't let it happen.

Please join Trout Unlimited today and tell the FDA to say NO to genetically modified fish.

As you may have heard, a group called AquaBounty Technologies has created a genetically modified salmon that grows twice as fast as conventional farmed salmon. The company is seeking FDA approval to commercially market this "frankenfish."

So far, research and public debate has focused on the impacts of human consumption of the fish. But as anglers and conservationists, you know there's far more at stake.

If genetically engineered salmon are produced on a commercial scale, fisheries experts say they would inevitably escape into the wild. And if that occurs, it could cause catastrophic damage to the last remaining stocks of wild salmon. We do not question the FDA's ability to determine potential impacts to humans from eating genetically engineered fish, but they do not have the expertise to evaluate potential impacts on wild salmon.

As fishermen and women, we have a unique perspective on this issue, and our voices must be heard. Please, join me today in asking the FDA to conduct a full environmental impact analysis and consult with salmon fisheries experts from Trout Unlimited, NOAA Fisheries, and the Fish and Wildlife Service before making this potentially disastrous decision.

It's up to you and me to stand up and protect wild salmon and healthy fisheries.

Sincerely,

Chris Wood

President & CEO, Trout Unlimited

[laker67]

If these are triploid fish, as with the rainbows, the only impact would be gigantic salmon and probably new world records. The fish are sterile and pose no threat to domestic salmon. I am sure a market would still exist for the commerical salmon fishermen. Rainbows are farmed in lake defienbaker and escape to become world records. I wish a few would escape to taneycomo.

[Indiana Trout]

The question is, what threat do these genetically engineered fish pose to YOU?

[flytyer57]

The fish are sterile and pose no threat...

That's what they said about the grass carp a few years ago and now they have problems with them.

[laker67]

That's what they said about the grass carp a few years ago and now they have problems with them.

Triploid salmon are sterile. The grass carp, first introduced into alabama, is a native fish of eastern asia. However, there are triploid grass carp available now.

[Guest]

deleted

[flytyer57]

It could have some really good repercussions for wild fish stocks though, as it would lessen pressure on wild fish stocks that are already overfished.

Don't eat fish.

Let them eat swine!!!

[Fly_Guy]

Don't eat fish.

Let them eat swine!!!

egad - gm triploid hogs - what would Sarah and the girls say?...

[Quillback]

My opinion is that the chances of these fish successfully spawning with wild salmon is extremely unlikely. I'm also curious why TU doesn't seem to be opposed to stocking triploid trout in freshwater lakes all over the Pacific Northwest. Maybe there's another agenda at work here.

[Outside Bend]

The process used to created triploid fish is something like 97% or 98%, which is pretty good, unless you're producing hundreds of thousands of fish, in which case you're producing thousands of fertile fish, too.

And it's not all about interbreeding- hatchery fish are more aggressive, and these GM salmon are engineered to grow rapidly and attain a very large size. Salmon runs have been decimated by a number of factors- dewatering, logging, changes in the riparian corridor, oceanic conditions, commercial harvest, hatcheries- and many of the runs now number in the hundreds. Escaped GM salmon- competing with natives, evicting them from preferred lies, munching on smolts- they could be the nail in the coffin for many of our fisheries.

And it's not about feeding the masses- no one's starving because they're not getting enough salmon in their diet. It's about producing a high-value commodity faster and more cheaply, to increased the bottom line of a few corporate entities at the expense of the environment as a whole and the public's fisheries specifically.

This one's a no-brainer. Petition signed.