"aquaculture" news and stories

Speed-to-market isn't just a slogan for manufacturing product. The concept is now being applied to genetically modified Atlantic salmon that grow to maturity in a 16 to 18 months, rather than the typical three years needed for conventionally farmed salmon.

According to an article in The New York Times, a Massachusetts-based biotech company, AquaBounty Technologies, has boosted the salmon's productivity by enhancing the fish with a growth-hormone gene from a Chinook salmon and a "genetic on-switch" from a related species, the ocean pout. That on-switch allows the salmon to continue making growth hormones during cold weather, something non-genetically modified salmon do not do.

According to a company press release, the Center for Veterinary Medicine (an agency within the FDA) has completed reviewing several sections of AquaBounty's application. The company has been seeking FDA approval for many years, and says it expects the formal process for approval of the genetically modified salmon to go forward.

AquaBounty says the genetically modified salmon will be made up of sterile females grown in closed-containment tanks, eliminating the risk of escapement or accidental reproduction with wild salmon.

For a nice Catholic girl like moi, Lent means several weeks of fish-focused Fridays. Sometimes that means grabbing a fish sandwich on the run. While there's no shortage of fast-food spots ready to fill that need, it's not always clear what kind of whitefish is sandwiched between those seeded buns. Frequently it's made from swimmers like pollock, hake or, as Wendy's latest Lenten promotion brags, North Pacific cod. But plenty of fish sandwiches, fish sticks and fish-'n-chips are made with a fish you probably haven't even heard of: hoki.

Like many issues surrounding fish and sustainability, things are often complicated. Environmental groups like the Blue Ocean Institute and Greenpeace give New Zealand hoki (also known as blue grenadier, whiptail and blue hake) a poor rating.

"We're in the process of updating our hoki report now," says Alan Duckworth, research scientist for the Blue Ocean Institute, "but the biggest concern with hoki is very low abundance compared to what it used to be."

Porgy. Photo: jasonlam, flickr

A fish better known for its contribution to the American songbook than the American dinner plate is being touted as a sustainable alternative to grouper and red snapper. Southern conservationists are now championing red porgy, the fish that was once so ubiquitous on low-country docks that it lent its name to the hero of George Gershwin's opera, "Porgy and Bess."

While the effort has been slightly hampered by chefs' reluctance to tinker with unfamiliar proteins and the lingering social stigma associated with eating red porgy, backers believe the fish's taste and history make it an excellent candidate to diversify coastal diets.