Saving Seafood

Salmon breakthrough was driven by chance

November 25, 2015 — It was the early 1980s, and a group of Canadian fish farmers was hoping to find a way for salmon to thrive in the region’s frigid waters. So scientists in Newfoundland began experimenting with how to inject them with antifreeze proteins from an eel­-like creature known as ocean pout.

Instead, they found a way to make the fish grow more quickly.

That work, more than 30 years ago, led to the controversial breakthroughs that allowed AquaBounty Technologies, a biotechnology company in Maynard, to produce a rapidly growing salmon, which the Food and Drug Administration last week declared the first genetically altered animal fit for consumption.

“We thought if we can enhance the growth rate, that’s good for the industry, which can get fish to market faster,” said Garth Fletcher, a researcher at Memorial University in Newfoundland, who did the initial experiments that led to the creation of salmon that can grow twice as fast as those in the wild. Fletcher’s technique of inserting growth hormone from Chinook salmon and a “promoter gene” from ocean pout is now considered antiquated technology. But scientists say its commercial application heralds a new era of genetic engineering.  

Federal regulators on Thursday approved a Massachusetts biotechnology company’s bid to modify salmon for human consumption.

“We thought if we can enhance the growth rate, that’s good for the industry, which can get fish to market faster,” said Garth Fletcher, a researcher at Memorial University in Newfoundland, who did the initial experiments that led to the creation of salmon that can grow twice as fast as those in the wild.

Fletcher’s technique of inserting growth hormone from Chinook salmon and a “promoter gene” from ocean pout is now considered antiquated technology. But scientists say its commercial application heralds a new era of genetic engineering.

New techniques have allowed scientists to more precisely alter animal genomes by editing DNA to include or exclude beneficial or harmful traits. Researchers are now experimenting with modifying the genes of chickens so they don’t transfer avian flu, for example. They also want to develop pigs and cattle that are resistant to foot and mouth disease, and goats that produce a higher level of a microbial protein that may help treat diarrhea in people.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

Scientists Say Feeding Fish Soy, Not Fish, More Sustainable

Editor’s Note: One key aquaculture issue not addressed by the article is the importance of marine ingredients in ensuring that farmed seafood diets contain enough omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients. Marine ingredients like fish meal and fish oil are currently the best way of transferring these nutrients to farmed fish and on to consumers. To learn more about aquaculture and marine ingredients, view this video.

November 22, 2015 — SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Research supported by the soybean industry is looking to convert some farm-raised fish into vegetarians.

A South Dakota State University fisheries scientist is developing a soy protein feed that’s tasty and easily digestible to eventually reduce the industry’s need for using wild-caught fish as food for farm-raised fish.

Much of the tilapia, Atlantic salmon and catfish that Americans toss into their shopping carts are raised in fish farms, where companies traditionally feed them pellets containing anchovy, menhaden and herring. The harvest of those small species has pretty much flat-lined, SDSU professor Mike Brown said, and humans’ increased demand for fish has driven up the cost of creating the pellet feed.

“We’ve fully exploited that resource,” he said, noting that the goal is to create a more sustainable – and cheaper – food source. Traditional fish feed is currently costing between $1,450 and $2,000 per ton, while soybean meal runs about $425 per ton, Brown said.

But some environmentalists worry that feeding fish species an uncommon food source could produce excess waste that muddies up inland tanks or offshore waters where fish are raised.

Read the full story at the New York Times

FDA OK’s genetically modified salmon

November 20, 2015 — For the first time, Americans will be able to dine on a genetically altered animal, after federal regulators on Thursday approved a Massachusetts biotechnology company’s bid to modify salmon for human consumption.

After years of testing the company’s modified fish, regulators said there are no “biologically relevant differences” between the so-called AquAdvantage salmon and other farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Still, for the time being the FDA has barred the fish from being cultivated in the United States and has issued strict regulations to prevent the modified salmon from breeding with those in the wild.

The decision was a big win for AquaBounty, which began seeking approval in the 1990s for its technique of inserting growth hormone genes from Chinook salmon and an eel-like creature called ocean pout into the DNA of Atlantic salmon. The faster the fish grow, the more the company can produce and sell, potentially reducing overfishing of the oceans and developing a new source of food for a growing global population.

Company officials said the federal approval would create a new industry in the United States, which they say imports 95 percent of its Atlantic salmon. But it was unclear how long it might take before the fish appear in supermarkets.

“AquAdvantage salmon is a game-changer that brings healthy and nutritious food to consumers in an environmentally responsible manner, without damaging the ocean and other marine habitats,” Ronald L. Stotish, the chief executive of AquaBounty, said in a statement.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

North Carolina’s Sunburst Trout Does Farm-Raised Fish The Right Way

October 19, 2015 — Not many 91-year-olds still come to work, especially at a combination agricultural/industrial production business. But Dick Jennings is not like many people. In 1968, Jennings dropped out of engineering school at Yale to return to his grandfather’s homeland in western North Carolina and start up Jennings Trout Farm in the mountain town of Cashiers. Primarily providing fish to recreational fishermen along the Eastern seaboard who would stock their private streams and lakes with trout, Jennings enabled these sportsmen to literally shoot fish in a barrel, if they so desired.

Eventually his business expanded to selling larger volumes of live fish to grocery chains to the point where Jennings was shipping in truckload quantities. He further diversified his business by starting up a processing facility so that he could ship fillets instead of just whole fish. In 1963, Jennings moved his operations to Canton, North Carolina, at the base of Lake Logan in the Pisgah National Forest, high in the Appalachian Mountains. Since a dam was in the process of being constructed at Lake Logan, Jennings was able to negotiate water-usage rights to the flow, a development that has made a tremendous difference in the success of his company.

Because the renamed Sunburst Trout Farms is able to pull water directly from Lake Logan, the operation benefits from the pristine purity of the stream, which has had almost no human contact other than the occasional fisherman in the federally designated wilderness area. Additionally, the extreme 6,000-gallon-per-minute flow rate into the 25 concrete runs where the trout is held allows Sunburst to simulate very natural growing conditions for its fish.

This water volume creates a flow velocity that is twice as high as most other trout farms. The increased flow provides a continuous and vital stream of oxygen across the gills of the fish, while also encouraging healthy metabolic activity and promoting natural development through exercise.

Read the full story at Food Republic