Saving Seafood

The rise and fall of genetically engineered salmon

January 15, 2025 — After 35 years, the genetically engineered salmon saga has ended. AquaBounty has closed its genetically modified salmon production facilities after losing millions of dollars trying to market a product for which there is no demand.

The AquAdvantage fast-growing salmon was initially developed in 1989 at Memorial University in Newfoundland, and AF Protein in Fortune Bay, Prince Edward Island, Canada, initially sought to bring to it to market. I started reporting on these fast-growing test-tube babies in 2000, when AF Protein reorganized and spun AquaBounty Farms, later called AquaBounty Technologies, into the U.S.— with headquarters in Waltham, Mass. The so-called Frankenfish, may not cease to exist, but the U.S. company, AquaBounty, has ceased its efforts to market the genetically engineered fish.

Since its creation, AquaBounty has burned through millions of dollars, trying to clear all the hurdles for FDA approval—including creating 100 percent triploid fish incapable of breeding. According to C. Greg Lutz reporting in Aquaculture Magazine in 2016: “The company reported net losses of $4.3 million for 2013, following losses of $4.4 million in 2012. Losses reported for 2011 and 2010 were $2.7 million and $5.3 million, respectively.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Murkowski and Colleagues Stand Up for Wild-Caught Salmon

June 8, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) reintroduced the Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act, which will allow consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing salmon. The bill works to ensure that any genetically engineered (GE) salmon products sold in the U.S. are clearly labeled “genetically engineered” in the market name. This requirement would apply to the entire lineage of salmon modified via recombinant DNA technology. The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

“It is absolutely essential that consumers be fully informed about what they are buying and feeding their families—especially when it comes to purchasing a genetically engineered salmon product. As an Alaskan who knows the tremendous benefits of eating healthy, wild Alaskan salmon, it’s imperative that Americans have the information to make that choice. When you splice DNA from another animal and combine it with farmed salmon, you are essentially creating a new species, and I have serious concerns with that. If we are going to allow this fake fish to be sold in stores, there must be clear labeling. We owe it to American consumers to ensure that any labeling of GE salmon is clear, effective, and understandable.”

Background: Through her role on the Appropriations Committee, Senator Murkowski has included language in previous appropriation bills to prevent the introduction of GE salmon to the U.S. market until the completion of a consumer study to determine the effectiveness of USDA’s labeling guidelines for bioengineered foods. USDA’s labeling guidelines did not require mandatory labeling of GE salmon, but instead allowed producers to use QR codes or 1-800 numbers for more information, which Senator Murkowski stressed were inadequate. Senator Murkowski’s years-long fight to ensure that any salmon that is genetically engineered be clearly labeled goes back to November 2015, when the FDA made the decision to approve GE salmon for human consumption.

False Claims about ‘Frankenfish’

March 24, 2016 — Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she opposes federal approval of genetically engineered salmon “for the health of both consumers and fisheries.” But there is no scientific evidence that suggests GE salmon will pose a significant risk to either.

Murkowski claims GE salmon may “interbreed with the wild stocks, and thus perhaps destroy them.” But GE salmon have been rendered sterile — meaning they can’t interbreed with wild salmon stocks. Geographic and physical confinement measures also limit the likelihood that the GE fish will escape and survive.

As for human consumption, scientists engineered GE salmon to grow faster than non-GE farm-raised salmon by inserting genes from two other fish into the genome of an Atlantic salmon. After these changes, the GE salmon remained nutritionally and physiologically comparable to non-GE salmon, according to Food and Drug Administration’s scientific assessments, so the agency deemed GE salmon “safe to eat.”

FDA Approves GE Salmon

The FDA approved GE salmon – marketed by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. as “AquAdvantage Salmon” – on Nov. 19, 2015. AquaBounty first submitted its application to the FDA in 1995.

By inserting DNA from other fish, the company’s scientists engineered Atlantic salmon to reach market size faster than non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon. As per AquaBounty’s FDA application, the GE salmon will only be raised and farmed in inland facilities on Prince Edward Island in Canada and in Panama.

AquAdvantage Salmon was the first GE animal (as opposed to a plant) approved for human consumption in the United States.

However, it’s unclear when the GE fish will reach supermarkets. Back in November, when the FDA approved the product, Ronald Stotish, the chief executive of AquaBounty, told the New York Times that “the salmon would not be in stores immediately because it would take about two years for even these fast-growing salmon to reach market size.”

In January, the FDA also issued a ban on the import and sale of GE salmon until the agency “publishes final labeling guidelines for informing consumers of such content,” the FDA said. The ban was the result of language Murkowski introduced into the 2016 fiscal budget, or omnibus, bill. 

False claims about GE salmon have come from politicians on both sides of the party divide. While Murkowski is a Republican, Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat from California, has said, for example, that “by approving GE salmon, the FDA is allowing the release of a new hybrid animal that could pose a danger to our wild salmon populations, damage the ecosystems they live in, and undermine our domestic commercial fisheries.”

But Murkowski has arguably been one of the most vocal and active opponents. On her website, she notes the importance Alaska’s fisheries to the economy of her state. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the “seafood industry contributes 78,500 jobs to the Alaskan economy and an estimated $5.8 billion annually with Bristol Bay sockeye salmon … representing some of the largest salmon … fisheries in the world.” For this reason, Murkowski has “supported Alaska’s fisheries … through legislation and her position on the Senate Appropriations Committee,” as her website says.

The day the FDA approved GE salmon, Murkowski voiced her opposition on the Senate floor, claiming the FDA’s decision was “quite disturbing news to any of us who care about our wild species of salmon.” Specifically, she questioned the FDA’s ability to certify that GE salmon don’t “interbreed with the wild stocks, and thus perhaps destroy them.” In that speech, and later press releases, Murkowski called particular attention to GE salmon’s threat to Alaskan salmon stocks.

Murkowski also said that as someone “who believes that the real thing is the best thing for our families,” she found the FDA’s approval of GE salmon “very troubling.” In fact, she said, “I don’t even know that I want to call it a fish,” and instead referred to the GE salmon as a “frankenfish” and an “organism” generally. Likewise, in a Nov. 23 press release, Murkowski said: “Genetically modifying salmon is messing with nature’s perfect brain food. The real thing is not only the safe choice, but it’s the best thing.”

Most recently, Murkowski said in a March 3 press release: “I still adamantly oppose the FDA’s approval of GE salmon, for the health of both consumers and fisheries.” In this release, Murkowski announced the introduction of her Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act, cosponsored with Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan and Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell.

This legislation calls for the market name of GE salmon to “include the words ‘Genetically Engineered’ or ‘GE.’ ” It would also authorize “an independent scientific review” of the effects of GE salmon on wild salmon stocks and for human consumption.

Read the full article at FactCheck.org