Thread by @NovaMarkButler

This is the image you usually see when the media does a story on genetically engineered salmon: big #GMO #salmon, small non GMO salmon.

But in any comparison it is important to compare apples to apples or genotypes to genotypes.

This is the study that AquaBounty(GM Salmon co.) cites. In it researchers compared growth rates of transgenic(TG) and non-transgenic salmon(NTG) for a period of 96 days. Both NTG and TG fish came from the same parents or brood stock(this is important).

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The study showed that TG fish reached targeted weight in a shorter time(40%) and total feed required to produce the same fish biomass was reduced by 25%.

Remember apples to apples. It turns out that the impact on growth rates of injecting a transgene into a fish varies greatly depending on the strain or genotype used. Look at this image from Nature article.
nature.com/articles/35057…

When you inject a transgene into wild fish you get much faster growth rates—see left-hand ‘Wild’ column. When you inject a transgene into fish already selectively bred for growth-not much difference-right hand ‘Domestic’ column.

Now if this is the case, then a company raising genetically engineered salmon has an uncertain sustainability advantage over other land-based operators + carries the liability of raising a fish that is a hazard to wild salmon as well as other ethical and welfare issues.