Giant salmon a scary prospect 

Genetic engineering prompts worries about 'Frankenfish' 

Les Blumenthal / News Tribune 21aug00

WASHINGTON - In New Zealand, researchers using genetic engineering developed a strain of chinook salmon they believed could eventually weigh 550 pounds.

On Canada's Prince Edward Island, "transgenic" Atlantic salmon injected with a protein grow four times faster than ordinary fish.

The "blue revolution" - like the green revolution in biotech agriculture - is on the verge of exploding, and new breeds of salmon could be the first genetically altered animals sold in the local supermarket.

But from the shores of Puget Sound to the California statehouse and from the Alaska governor's office to two streams on Vancouver Island, fishermen, government officials and environmentalists are increasingly wary of what critics are calling "Frankenfish."

And in Washington, D.C., a White House panel is trying to sort out which agency has jurisdiction, with the Food and Drug Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all having a possible claim.

"We are very worried," said Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "Once you let the genies out of the bottle, you are at the mercy of the genies."

No one is quite sure what the long-term biological or environmental consequences might be if genetically altered salmon escaped from the fish farms, where they would be raised, and cross-bred or competed with wild, native stocks for food and spawning sites.

Most of the attention has focused on fish farms in New England, where there are fears transgenic fish could mate with Atlantic salmon that might be listed as an endangered species. But there is equal concern on the Pacific Coast.

"It's a hot issue," said Kevin Amos of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Scientists in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, New Zealand and other countries have been manipulating genes in fish for more than a decade, and some of the research is on the verge of commercial development.

A Massachusetts company, A/F Protein Inc., has said it has orders for 15 million eggs from genetically engineered, or transgenic, Atlantic salmon it has been raising on Prince Edward Island. The company has sought FDA approval to start marketing the eggs to fish farms.

The fish can reach market size in 18 months, rather than the 36 months it now takes a typical Atlantic salmon.

The breakthrough came when researchers at A/F Protein, an international biotech firm, discovered an antifreeze protein that allows flounder to survive in cold, arctic water where salmon can't. The protein acts as a switch that allows the Atlantic salmon to produce a growth hormone year-round. Normal salmon produce such a growth hormone only during warm months.

An A/F Protein spokesman was unavailable for comment, but the company's supporters say such transgenic salmon could dramatically expand fish farm operations around the world and relieve the pressure on wild stocks. Already, more than half the salmon sold in the United States are raised in farms.

Elsewhere, scientists in British Columbia and in the United States have been experimenting with such Pacific Coast stocks as the coho.

In New Zealand, a company using genetic engineering was developing what could have been a mammoth chinook, or King salmon, they believed could eventually grow to 550 pounds. Wild chinook have been caught weighing 100 pounds or so.

According to reports out of New Zealand, some of the first generation of chinook under development had lumps on their heads and other deformities. Following a public outcry and rising government scrutiny, the company abandoned its research earlier this year and killed and buried the fish. The company, however, held onto frozen sperm.

While some in the United States downplay reports of such giant salmon, they say their concerns about genetically engineered salmon are legitimate.

"I find it hard to believe a chinook could grow that large," said Rebecca Goldburg, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund. "But salmon are being genetically engineered for new traits and this can produce fish that are more competitive, bigger, more voracious and can threaten local stocks."

On the West Coast, surprisingly, it's the Atlantic salmon that could actually pose the greatest threat. It has become the staple of fish farming operations in Washington and British Columbia.

In Washington, dozens of net pens near Bainbridge Island, Port Angeles and Anacortes are used to rear Atlantic salmon. About 10 million pounds are raised annually, and it's a $40-million-a-year business. Fish farms in British Columbia raise 80 million pounds of Atlantic salmon annually.

The problem is, the Atlantic salmon escape. Since 1996, almost 600,000 Atlantic salmon have escaped from the net pens in Washington waters, and at least 60,000 in British Columbia waters.

The escaped fish have been caught by sports fishermen in Puget Sound and found as far north as the Bering Sea. Most troubling, in the past year Canadian biologists have found juvenile Atlantic salmon in two streams on Vancouver Island, a sure sign of spawning activity.

Biologists say the chance of interbreeding between the Atlantic and Pacific salmon in the Northwest is remote, though interbreeding has been done in the laboratory and they can't rule it out entirely. The real danger, biologists say, is that the Atlantic salmon will compete with the wild Pacific salmon.

There are no signs the Atlantic salmon have significantly impacted Pacific salmon stocks currently protected by the Endangered Species Act, but a recent study by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife concluded "as new data become available, the opinions of scientists may change."

Genetically engineered Atlantic salmon could provide an even greater danger to Pacific salmon. They would grow faster and be more competitive.

"It's a recipe for extinction," said Kate Neiswender, an aide to California state Sen. Tom Hayden. The Los Angeles Democrat wrote a resolution approved unanimously by the California Legislature that calls, among other things, on the National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure transgenic salmon are prevented from threatening wild stocks.

Though there are no net pen operations in California raising Atlantic salmon and no Atlantic salmon have been found in California waters, Neiswender said salmon migrate up and down the West Coast, and Alaska salmon have been found as far south as California.

Bob King, a spokesman for Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, said that salmon farming is banned in the state and that the governor considers Atlantic salmon an "invasive" species.

"Having genetically engineered salmon escape into the wild is a scary prospect," King said, adding that with a current surplus and depressed salmon prices "we would question altering Mother Nature to add to the glut."

In the Northwest, an official of the Omega Salmon Group Ltd., which owns the Washington salmon farms, said he knew of no plans to start raising transgenic Atlantic salmon.

"We are not involved and don't foresee any on this coast," said Omega controller Keith Bullough, who is based in Campbell River, B.C.

A/F Protein officials, however, said they have had private discussions about transgenic Atlantic salmon with virtually every salmon company in the world.

Omega is a subsidiary of the one of the largest salmon farming companies in the world, Pan Fish ASA, a Norwegian company with operations in Norway, Scotland, Canada and the United States.

"On the surface, knowing what they have done with transgenic fish, we would highly scrutinize any attempt to bring them into Washington and likely not approve them," said Amos of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, who added that his agency would have jurisdiction.

On the federal level, the FDA has not approved for use as human food any transgenic animal under development, including salmon. Agency officials will say little about transgenic salmon because much of the information they have received is proprietary.

"It's under review," said John Matheson of the agency's Center for Veterinary Medicine. "These fish are not in the supermarkets."

Critics, however, say the FDA can assess food safety issues but has little background in assessing environmental risks.

"Having the FDA assess environmental risks would be like having the Fish and Wildlife Service assessing food safety," said the Environmental Defense Fund's Goldburg. "It's absurd."

The FDA has done environmental assessments before and has been working with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, Matheson said.

"We are not competitive, we are complimentary," he said.

Staff writer Les Blumenthal covers Northwest issues in Congress. Reach him at 1-202-383-0008 or lblumenthal@mcclatchydc.com

If you have come to this page from an outside location click here to get back to mindfully.org