AquAdvantage salmon could become the first genetically-engineered animal approved for human consumption. A 2010 Food and Drug Administration evaluation was supportive of commercializing the fish. Recommendations now await further White House review.
Marketed as a solution to dwindling fish stocks, AquAdvantage salmon is essentially Atlantic salmon with a few tweaks. By borrowing genetic material from Pacific Chinook salmon and ocean pout, the fish are engineered to grow twice as fast as their unmodified cousins.
The fish would be reared in tanks in Panama. There might be some benefit to raising salmon on land. Much of the salmon we consume is farm-raised. In the ocean, fish farms are associated with environmental damage from waste, antibiotics, inbreeding, and the spread of disease.
But tank-raised salmon still puts pressure on the ocean. Salmon are carnivores that require meal made out of wild-caught species like herring and mackerel. By conservative estimates, it takes 3-4 pounds of wild-caught fish to raise a pound of salmon.
The biggest concern surrounding AquAdvantage salmon is the fear that the modified fish could make it into natural areas and breed with wild salmon. While 98% of the fish are sterile, it would only take a few fertile escapees to wreak havoc on native populations.
Our best bet? Invest in saving our wild salmon stocks, eat sustainably harvested seafood, and push for 100% sterility where genetically-modified animals are concerned.
Past experience with genetically-modified crops has proven that once an engineered species is let loose on the global market, it’s impossible to keep them contained.
Photo, taken on August 13, 2006 , courtesy of Andrea Pokrzywinski via Flickr.