In Masfjorden in Nordhordland, the Marine Research Institute is planning an experiment that has never been done anywhere before. At their experimental station in Matre, the researchers have applied to have sterile, genetically modified salmon released into regular, but small, farming cages in the fjord. – The aim is to investigate how genetically sterile salmon cope in the sea. Such an attempt has never been made anywhere in the world yet, says head of research Anna Wargelius. The plan is to research 303 sterile salmon and a control group of 485 normal farmed salmon that are not sterile. The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research’s research facility at Smørdalen near Matre can have the world’s first experiment with genetically engineered salmon in cages out in the sea. Photo: Christine Fagerbakke / Institute of Marine Research In case of escape For a decade, the Institute of Marine Research has been preparing genetically modified and sterile salmon in closed indoor tanks. Now they want to see if such fish do just as well out in natural seawater. The background is the problem that the farming industry has many cases where damage to the cage causes farmed fish to escape and mix with natural wild salmon. The aim is to see if sterile salmon can be produced on a large scale in commercial salmon production. If farmed salmon that escape are sterile, the fish will not be able to reproduce and outcompete the wild salmon. – I have checked that the fish I want to release is 100% sterile. At the same time, it will take some time before the method can be used commercially. Until now, we have not become very good at getting the biotechnological methods to be one hundred percent, so we have to test each individual fish to check whether it has become sterile, says Wargelius. In the worst case, wild salmon can become genetically sterile if genetically modified fish ends up in the wild, the Science Committee fears. Photo: Knut-Sverre Horn / news – High environmental risk The national Science Committee for Food and the Environment has now risk assessed the research scheme. – Our conclusion is that the experiment is associated with a potentially high environmental risk. That’s according to senior researcher Kjetil Hindar at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research. He represents the Science Committee. The committee believes that the Institute of Marine Research has not documented that all genetically modified experimental fish are actually sterile. If fish escape from such open breeding facilities, in the worst case they can reproduce and transfer hidden, i.e. latent, sterility to wild salmon. – It is exactly the opposite of the ambitions in this attempt, says Hindar. If it happens first, it could be catastrophic for the wild salmon. – It is unlikely that this will happen, but the ecological effect on wild salmon stocks if it does happen is very large. Genetic sterility is not something that can be easily eradicated once it has entered a wild salmon population. Kjetil Hindar and the Science Committee are critical of the application from the Institute of Marine Research to put genetically engineered salmon into cages in Masfjorden. Photo: NINA – Should have checked better The committee also writes about another concern: Sterile salmon that escape can become very large and eat so many small salmon that it also threatens the wild salmon population. – We don’t know what a large, sterile fish can find to do if he gets into a river. That is, if he is an aure and salmon fry. Hindar believes that the Institute of Marine Research has simply not done their homework before they now want to release genetically modified salmon into cages in the wild. – One should have checked the risk much better – what happens if it does or does happen – in closed facilities. Here, the applicant will skip a few steps, and go straight to the point of potentially releasing fish into the wild that may have effects we know nothing about. It is the Norwegian Environment Agency that will decide whether the marine researchers will be granted permission for the experiment. – I am surprised if this attempt is allowed, to put it this way, says Hindar. Escaped farmed fish are a threat to Norwegian wild salmon stocks. Trying to catch escaped fish is an extensive and difficult job. Photo: Anton Rikstad / County Governor in Trøndelag Evaluated by the Research Council Wargelius rejects that the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research is irresponsible and that the environmental risk is high and too poorly documented. – No, it is not. I could have answered this right away if they had called me. Wargelius says that even if the research is in place, the application process to the governing authorities for the use of gene-edited fish is “uncharted territory”. She says that there is no template for what questions and clarifications must be in place in the application. – The road is created as I walk. I have done much of what the committee is asking for. The reason they haven’t received all the information from us is that they haven’t asked us, she says. The research project is financed and expertly evaluated by the Norwegian Research Council. – For us, it is surprising that the science committee concludes that the project has a high risk based on alleged missing data that they have never requested and what looks like professional misunderstandings, says Wargelius. According to the plan, they will conduct research on 303 genetically engineered, sterile salmon. Such an attempt has never been made anywhere in the world yet. Photo: ERLEND ASTAD LORENTZEN / MARINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE – We have had three rounds of questions where we have not received satisfactory answers, Hindar answers, and adds: – These researchers are clearly at the forefront of research. But we cannot do experiments where we let nature find out whether it is crazy or not. We need to know more before we see genetically modified fish in a cage where they can escape. – Safe experiment Wargelius is convinced that the experiment can be carried out in an environmentally and ethically sound way. – Yes absolutely. The fish will probably do well in the sea. Only a small genetic change has been made in them, and the same change can also occur naturally. No genetic material has been added to the fish. In several countries this is considered precision breeding, not genetic modification, she says. Wargelius adds that the cages will be specially constructed and with a double groove to be extra escape-proof.
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Marine researchers will put genetically modified salmon into the sea – expert committee warns – news Vestland
