Aqua Bounty Technologies

The Blue Revolution

"Bringing together technology from the biological sciences and engineering to produce an aquaculture industry capable of large-scale low-cost production independent of proximity to the oceans and less invasive to the environment. Increased growth rates, enhanced resistance to disease, better food conversion rates, alteration of breeding cycles, more efficient use of indoor water recycling plants are all aspects of this revolution."

The debate seems to be set. Will Transgenic salmon out-complete their wild kin and lead to loss of genetically unique wild stocks, or will transgenic salmon be less fit in the wild and transfer that trait to the wild population through cross-breeding? At Aqua Bounty Farms, we believe there is another option: rearing the genetically modified fish in recycled water facilities, far removed from possible exposure to wild stocks, or ensuring that they are sterile if raised in ocean pens.

Water recycling facilities have been available for many years, but until recently they have been ignored.
This is due to the large capital investments required for their construction and their high operating costs compared with ocean net-pen facilities. But we predict that will change as environmental issues and regulations increasingly cost farmers money and force restrictions on the quantity of fish allowed to be grown in ocean net-pens. Also driving the change will be salmon farmers knowledgeable about the tremendous economic returns possible with transgenic fish.

Consider that the transgenic salmon that are being developed at Aqua Bounty can attain market size in one-third to one-half the time currently required with traditional salmon, and this with roughly 20 percent less feed input. The economic impact of these growth rates is enormous. Not only is the cost per pound of production lowered as a result of shorter grow-out time and reduction in the amount of feed required, but the production is essentially doubled over time. Using AquAdvantage salmon, a farm can produce two harvests in the same time it takes to produce one harvest of standard salmon.

While in any given year, an ocean pen facility may well represent the most cost effective method of production, it is also the riskiest with storms, disease, predation, and changes in water temperature having severe impacts on harvest. Just last year, for example, about 100,000 salmon in British Columbia escaped due to storm damage, and a previously unknown disease organism devastated the salmon harvest in New Brunswick. In Scotland, excessively warm ocean temperatures in 1997 resulted in the death of salmon worth 1.3 million pounds sterling. In the long run, therefore, reliance on water-recycling systems represents a safer alternative with greater opportunity for long-range planning and growth. Aqua Bounty Farms is firmly convinced that the use of transgenics will facilitate the use of environmentally friendly systems of aquaculture. As a leader in the transgenic field, our company will only allow its technology to be deployed where environmental concerns are taken into account. We are committed to the principle that all Aqua Bounty licensees will grow AquAdvantage salmon in land-based systems, or will grow only sterile animals in ocean pens. While less preferable than inland farming, we believe it is more preferable to raise sterile AquAdvantage salmon in ocean pens than fertile standard Atlantic salmon.

Transgenic technology is a vital part of a broader development transforming the productivity of aquaculture and creating a more widely available, sustainable food supply to feed the world's growing population. We call it simply, "The Blue Revolution."