Wednesday, May 29, 2013

29/05/13: GM salmon can pass on traits to offspring; Coppens trains farmers; falling fish stocks in the UAE

AquaBounty's GM salmon, AquAdvantage can breed with wild fish and pass on fast growth genes a study has found. In the wild, salmon will occasionally breed with similar species such as the brown trout, creating a hybrid fish.
The study, which is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society the found that when GM salmon mated with brown trout, 40 percent of the resulting hybrids received accelerated growth genes from its GM parent. In fact, the hybrid fish outgrew both its parents. In laboratory conditions, the hybrids were out-competing their parents, significantly stunting their growth.
However, AquaBounty has said that the chances of this happening is low as the fish it plans to raise are female, sterile and will be grown on-land.

Seventy fish farmers in Ghana have taken part in a one-day training session organised by 
Coppens. The course was aimed at equipping them with modern techniques in aquaculture, to enable them take advantage of government’s five-year aquaculture development plan.

Is now the time to start thinking seriously about improving aquaculture in the UAE? Fish stocks off the east coast have fallen by two thirds in nine years.
Stocks were estimated to be 529 kg a square kilometre in 2011 compared with 1,735 kg per square kilometre in 2002, according to figures from the Ministry of Environment and Water.
As a result, the ministry has temporarily suspended issuing fishing licences nationwide.
English: Fish Brown trout on exhibition Subaqu...
English: Fish Brown trout on exhibition Subaqueous Vltava, Prague 2011, Czech Republic Česky: Pstruh obecný potoční, (Salmo trutta) na výstavě Pod hladinou Vltavy, Palác Kinských, Staroměstské náměstí, Praha 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments:

Post a Comment