Aquabounty's Aquadvantage Salmon?

One of the most commonly shared beliefs about aquaculture is that it has potential to amplify and transfer disease/parasites to wild fish populations, but strict management practices and guidelines have been utilized and supplemented to ensure that US farming operations mitigate current and potential environmental risks associated with aquaculture (NOAA, 2015). Among these practices are regular diver-led inspections to investigate the integrity of nets and net infrastructure, surveillance cameras and even public webcam feeds that monitor the fish farms and in particular monitor efficient use of feed, regular health inspections in efforts to have a head start on disease prevention and detection, and “comprehensive sanitary and biosecurity programs to prevent the introduction and/or spread of pests or diseases from one farm site/cage to another or into the environment.” (NOAA, 2015). Additionally, movements are being made to stop the spreading of disease and to limit oceanic pollution by containing salmon in solid tanks rather than in netting. “In Washington State, Domsea Farms has launched a land-based, freshwater system to produce coho salmon.” (David Suzuki Foundation, n.d.) This method is not only environmentally sound, but it opens up aquacultural boundaries. By containing fish in these large tanks, there is potential for salmon aquaculture to

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a commercial selling and consuming of the first GM animal, a salmon fish. However, instead of taking this news favorably, the U.S retailers refuse to sell it in their stores. One of these retailers is Costco, the second-largest warehouse retailer in the world.

Salmon have a truly incredible life cycle. Like all fish, salmon spawn from female eggs and then go on to develop into “alevin,” which is a term for newly hatched fish. First off, they derive nourishment from the yolk sac from where the salmon are born. Once the sac has been absorbed, the “fry,” or baby fish, then emerges from the river gravel and starts the search for food. Fry instinctively deal with the river currents and learn to swim together as a school right away. Anywhere from a couple days to two years old, fry will continue to live in fresh water until they start the next, “smolting,” phase. Smolting is a

The government had begun to ban any studies that were being done on salmon. The government also closed down labs that were performing experiments on salmon. A lot of profit is made by the government, from the sales of farm fish that is sold locally and exported. After taking all the research and all the results for salmon research and experiments, it was said that the results were negative. In reality, the salmon were highly infected with Infectious Salmon Anemia. These results came from labs that were not funded by the government or farm fish industry. If it was announced that the results were positive, Fish farms would be closed down, causing less earning by the government.

In the North Pacific there are five species of salmon. Each kind of salmon is known by different names like, Chinook (king), sockeye (red), coho (silver), chum (dog), and pink (humpback). These are all valuable, but the Chinook or King Salmon were the prize of the Columbia River system. In the late 1800s about 2,500,000 cans of salmon nearly filled a cannery store and storage rooms in Astoria, Oregon. Fresh, salted, dried, and smoked were the only options for preserving and eating salmon before the spread of canning technology in the mid 1800s.

As of now, the US Food and Drug administration is debating on whether or not to let genetically modified salmon made by a biotech company in Massachusetts be marketed. Many consumers are demanding that if it be approved it must be labelled. However, scientific studies show how there is no noticeable difference between the genetically engineered salmon and the wild salmon, yet labelling it may imply to the consumers that there is, therefore it would only scare away buyers. “The FDA's own rules say that once it is determined that a genetically modified food is not ‘materially significant’ from naturally derived products,

Founded in 2001, Yorktown Technologies, Inc. is a company that specializes in the ornamental fish industry. The globalization of the ornamental fish industry happened over a half a century ago. Hundreds of freshwater and saltwater fish can be purchased as pets in virtually any industrialized nation in the world (Broy, 2011). Yorktown Technologies commercializes a genetically modified fish called GloFish, which appear to glow in the dark (Mueller, 2010). GloFish are zebrafish that have been genetically modified with fluorescent colors. They are the first genetically modified animals to become publicly available as pets

Salmon also known as the “Kings” of the streams can be wild caught or farmed. Adolescent wild salmon eat insects, invertebrates, and plankton. Adult wild salmon eat other fish, squid, eels, and shrimp. The salmon which is farmed usually eat a dry pellets which has canthaxanthin or astaxanthin added to them to create that appealing 'salmon ' color. Also, some of the farmed salmon are even tainted with Agent Orange, a chemical used in the Vietnam War to poison the opposing side. Most farmed salmon are kept in small ponds where they are able to grow and get bigger. The ponds are usually overcrowded and full of chemicals. The pond water is most likely at a cold temperature, which the natural temperature that the salmon adapted to. The pond water is also full of salmon waste and is barely ever cleaned. This can lead to the salmon to become a health risk to the

They created genetically modified zebrafish by injecting the zygotes with the GFE3 construct that was further modified to be expressed only in the spine.

Consumer groups such as Consumers Union, Food and Water Watch, and Center for Food Safety have created a petition in which they are claiming that genetically modifying the salmon changes the nutritional value and alters the composition of the fish, therefore making the fish a food additive (Barret, 2012). If GM salmon are considered to be a food addictive, then the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have to place the GM salmon under extensive testing to make sure that it is safe for consumption (Barret, 2012). Other concerns are based on the consequences of these GM fish escaping into the wild and reproducing with other non GM fish (Barret, 2010).

When fish like salmon are farmed, often the fish are still kept in the ocean; however, they live inside of nets so that they are still contained. There are many ethical arguments based around these net systems because these nets pose threats to wild salmon. Captive salmon can escape from the nets, which allows them to breed with wild salmon. This can disrupt the natural gene pool of wild salmon. Farmed salmon have been shown to outgrow wild salmon when introduced into the wild, and typically have higher mortality rates, which would be poor traits to be introduced into the wild gene pool, (Hindar, et al., 2006). Unfortunately, with the invasive farmed salmon being introduced to wild populations from escapees of net systems, the recovery of the original wild salmon is unlikely, even if decades went by without more intrusive farmed salmon being present, (Hindar, et al., 2006). Another problem is that the nets do not contain wastes from the captive salmon inside, wastes such as uneaten feed, and feces from the fish are dispersed into the open waters of the ocean. Wild salmon can contract infections and parasites from captive farmed salmon in nets. A study indicated that these parasites, such as sea lice, and infections lead to high mortality rates in wild salmon passing near

In the world of science, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are a great accomplishment. Being of great significance to the scientific community, GMOs are organisms that have been genetically modified for unhealthy purposes. Based on substantiated research, government officials should enact legislation that prohibits the use and sale of genetically modified salmon in the United States. Not only should salmon be rejected and contained, but all transgenic organisms should not be let out without proper government research and consent of the public. The people have the determining factor and decision, and currently, the general public is not in favor of genetically modified organisms. Expectation of rejection is in the future, and with right cause. As the public has brought to light, transgenic animals bring about sickness and drastic illness. Through changing the genetics and mixing the DNA of organisms, science has created some foods whose ingredients are uncertain. The amazing creation that God has given to us to command and take care of has been altered and changed from what the Lord had made, which His Word says is perfect. Therefore, why should it be changed or modified?

The new genes added into the organism may grant them a competitive advantage that they would not normally possess. The possible repercussions if the organisms were to escape the labs, they can upset the natural balance of nature and lead to either the endangerment or extinction of a

The new salmon is said to be more nutritional and even be fit to taste better than the regular salmon. The process is very simple compared to modifying other plants or animals. “Fish eggs, on the other hand, are large and readily accessible—deposited by thousands in the open water” (Fischetti). This makes it severely simple to perform a replication of the gene cell. Farm raised Atlantic salmon just might become the first genetically engineered animal to be eaten by people. Some scientists say that the new gene inserted in the salmon make it mature in 18 months instead of three years. In this way, the FDA will then have to decide if this fish is safe to eat. Opponents would argue that if this fish was approved it would escape and establish in the wild, but Ron Stotish, CEO of AquaBounty, begs to differ. He states that there “is no virtual escape and interaction with wild populations” . Since the fish eggs will be sterile and all female there is no chance of reproduction. The fish will be raised in a tank and not at sea. Over seventeen years ago, AquaBounty Technologies Inc. first applied to the FDA for approval of a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon. In 2009, AquaBounty submitted to the FDA the last required study for their new animal drug (NAD) application. The fish will be raised in a tank and not at sea. Even though the FDA is ready to put the salmon on the market, many scientists and researchers argue that it needs to be more thoroughly investigated.

The parade of genetically engineered marvels, during the past recent years, has been shocking: “Flavr-Savr” tomatoes that stay fresher longer; “giant salmon” that grow 37 times faster than the normal fish; “transgenic” pigs that are injected with human genes which causes them to produce milk with human protein that prevents blood clotting; and “supermice” injected with rat growth genes which makes them grow twice their normal size, are just a few.