We've heard it before, now we're hearing it again. Genetically modified salmon could be coming to a dinner table near you.
The June 18 Economist reports that genetic engineers at Aqua Bounty, in Waltham, Mass., are trying to secure federal approval to produce and market super-salmon.
They can do this, they believe, through tricks with DNA (from king salmon and ocean pout) that will turn off the normal lull in the salmon's growth cycle.
As a result, a salmon that once took 30 months to reach full size will be marketable in 18 to 24 months.
Aqua Bounty has been seeking regulatory approval for a decade and hopes to hear this year.
According to the Economist, Aqua Bounty's plan is to by and large create sterile salmon to reduce the risk of escapement leading to genetic mayhem in the wild. A contingent of fertile salmon would be kept under the aquacultural equivalent of lock and key.
As your mother used to say, it all sounds like fun until someone gets hurt — that is, until fast-growing, reproductive "Frankenfish" manage to escape and displace their natural cousins.
The Economist says it's an open question whether consumers will eat Naughahyde kings.
But if, as the magazine suggests, people pay extra for the meat of the over-muscled Belgian blue cow, why would they not spend less for speedy-grow salmon?
So I have no doubt you can put them down as "coming to a table near you."
You hope not.
Thank you for your time.
Jerry Fraser
Editor & Publisher, National Fisherman
www.nationalfisherman.com
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