AquaAdvantage and Salmo Domesticus

[Kyleigh McArthur]

AquaAdvantage and Salmo Domesticus are in some ways similar and in some ways they vary. Both types are definitely not wild salmon. Both have been raised in captivity. Both are genetically engineered. One way that AquaAdvantage salmon is different from the Salmo Domesticus is that AquaAdvantage salmon have been altered to grow at a faster rate than wild salmon. It has been introduced to an antifreeze-gene that doubles it’s growth rate. However it never really launched or made it to the market.
The problem with the salmon market is that there is consumers really want salmon, but they don’t prefer and sometimes decline farmed salmon. This creates a problem because the population of wild salmon is declining leaving fewer salmon to be harvested and sold. Farmed salmon aren’t always great for the environment, but they have the ability to help with the salmon market. One way inthe book Greenberg suggests to help improve farmed salmon industries is to create polyculture environments. The example given is to add mussels to the salmon farms. The mussels can recapture small waste particles, and absorb some of the diseases harming the salmon. In turn the mussels can be harvested as well as the salmon. This would be a great solution the the problem of declining wild salmon populations.
As far as the statement of “genetic engineering [being] the obvious next technological step in the history of human’s cultivating our food”, it seems true to me at the moment. With consumers demanding so much salmon, or if each person on earth wanted wild salmon as opposed to farmed salmon, this would cause instant extinction. So yes, it seems that genetic engineering is the obvious next step in cultivating our good.

[hmhellen]

Do you think it would be possible to lessen some of the demand for salmon? Species of fish that are considered desirable have changed a lot throughout history. It could be helpful to try to redirect some of the demand for salmon to a different fish.

[rmwilliams7]

I agree that genetically engineering salmon is the next step in supplying the demand for salmon, most importantly the global demand for salmon. Finding a better way to farm salmon, especially by creating polyculture environments, could be the next big step in meeting the future seafood demands of the world.

[Author]

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