Swimming upstream: regulating genetically engineered fish. (On First Reading).Protesting human manipulation of living food items, chefs, restaurateurs, grocers and seafood seafood Edible aquatic animals excluding mammals, but including both freshwater and ocean creatures. Seafood includes bony and cartilaginous fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, edible jellyfish, sea turtles, frogs, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. distributors across the nation have decided to pull salmon off their menus and out of their seafood counters because most are raised on fish farms and have been genetically engineered genetically engineered adjective Recombinant, see there to grow faster so that they can reach the market sooner. Although bred in captivity, these salmon run The salmon run is the time at which salmon swim back up the rivers in which they were born to spawn. Pacific salmon spawn and then die, while Atlantic salmon winter over in deep spots in the river and try to return to the sea to recover in the spring and return to spawn again in the risk of escape, creating a threat to native fish in state waters. The National Research Council worries that if engineered fish escape, they would pose significant risks to native species. One company has developed an Atlantic salmon Atlantic salmon Oceanic trout species (Salmo salar), a highly prized game fish. It averages about 12 lbs (5.5 kg) and is marked with round or cross-shaped spots. Found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, it enters streams in the fall to spawn. genetically engineered (transgenic trans·ge·nic adj. 1. Of, relating to, or being an organism whose genome has been altered by the transfer of a gene or genes from another species or breed: transgenic mice. 2. ) to grow at four to six times the rate of wild salmon. Purdue University Purdue University (pərdy  `, -d`), main campus at West Lafayette, Ind. scientists say that if just 60 transgenic salmon
were to escape from fish farms and join a population of wild fish, the
wild population could theoretically become extinct within 40
generations.
Following the call of nature, females will choose to breed with the bigger transgenic fish--thus extinguishing the native gene pools. The modified fish are not genetically superior to wild ones, their genes have just been manipulated to let them grow bigger, faster. Some states are taking measures to ensure this won't happen. Maryland placed a five-year moratorium A suspension of activity or an authorized period of delay or waiting. A moratorium is sometimes agreed upon by the interested parties, or it may be authorized or imposed by operation of law. in 2001 on the introduction of genetically altered fish into state waters. California regulators don't believe a ban is necessary. The Department of Fish and Game rejected a proposal to become the first state to formally prohibit fish farmers from introducing genetically engineered (GE) fish into all public waterways The list of waterways is a link page for any river, canal, estuary or firth. International waterways
On the other hand, Washington state regulators adopted sweeping regulations in December banning genetically engineered salmon from fish farms in all its marine waters. The Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission acted following repeated large-scale escapes of farmed fish. The new rules require state agencies to implement new enforcement and oversight measures on the negative impacts of poorly regulated fish farms. |
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