Rainbow Trout to Replace Matthew McConaughey in Upcoming Film
We live in a world where image is everything. We human beings are a prideful species and, while we certainly mean well most of the time, we have a habit of obsessing over self-improvement, often to the point of overdoing it. And, now we’ve started over-doing it to fish.
Should fish have six-pack abs? University of Rhode Island Professor Terry Bradley believes they should, and he’s cultivating some overly svelte rainbow trout in his laboratory.
Rainbow trout are now even stronger swimmers. Photo provided by Celticstrm.
What is the purpose of packing all that extra muscle onto a genetically modified Frankenfish? Are the trout being bullied?
In the video, Bradley shows off fish that have awfully big guns. Of course, fish don’t have abdominal muscles, so maybe we should concern ourselves with why someone would value a strong fish. Many in the aquaculture industry are looking to genetically engineer fish, claiming that a fish with increased muscle growth could help feed more people and enhance profits. There it is again: profit.
Why don’t we just take the normal fish we have – you know, the ones that spawn naturally in rivers and lakes – and do a better job at protecting them so that we can continue eating rainbow trout, instead of Arnold Schwartzentrout.
As of now, these ripped salmonids have been spawned in an enclosed laboratory. But, what happens when this experiment comes out of the lab?
The biotech industry always claims that creatures like this are perfectly safe and that these Mark Maguires of the trout world couldn’t possibly mix in with natural trout. But, we already know that fish escapes occur frequently, such as in November 2009, when 40,000 salmon escaped from a Marine Harvest Canada farm in British Columbia.
We could easily dismiss Professor Bradley as some sort of madcap DNA scientist, destined to toil away in his la-BORE-atory, creating three-headed fish with five eyes that can solve math problems and sing Broadway tunes. Unfortunately, this is just one project of many being pursued by the biotech and aquaculture industry in their quest to improve upon our imperfect world without considering the consequences.
If people are “building” bigger fish to prevent a fish shortage, perhaps we need to analyze why we seem to be running out of fish. At the very least, we need to be responsible with our proposed solutions. If we’re not careful, we could run the risk of getting beaten up by our dinner.
Rich Bindell
While I find your blogpost entertaining and creative, you clearly focused more on the humor and less on getting the facts. Yes, in an ideal world we would concentrate only on protective the fish in the wild and not have a need to develop alternative routes, but aquacultured farm fishing is a highly intellengent and much needed alternative to a world without fish. At the rate we are going, the demand for fish so greatly outweighs the supply, that the world will be fishless by 2040. So whats worse, transgenic, safe, and yes maybe beefed up seafood produce, or no fish at all, which will contribute to the every increasing problem of world hunger. Do your research.
[...] marketplace first: Frankenswine or Arnold Schwartzensalmon. We have some other great names for a similar and unfortunate creation. Currently, the competitors are neck and neck. Both “food products” are in the cue at the [...]
[...] marketplace first: Frankenswine or Arnold Schwartzensalmon. We have some other great names for a similar and unfortunate creation. Currently, the competitors are neck and neck. Both “food products” are in the queue at the [...]
Yes I have known of this falioucious workings of Mon$anto for a long time and i just realized why Willie Nelson had FarmAid…What an American…And as for Jessie Ventura…He is on top of my list of Great Americans as well…Stand and fight…Brothers we are in TROUBLE HERE…!!!! Turn the American Fleg upside down to signal the others we are in trouble and under attack….Remember…for EVIL people to succede…is for GOOD people to do NOTHING !!!
Thanks very much for your comments, Madeline. At Food & Water Watch, we pride ourselves on meticulous research, and we can support all of our blog-related comments with valid data. I apologize if I strayed from the facts a bit in my attempt to entertain, but I’m happy to explain our stance on Aquaculture.
“Aquaclutured farm fishing,” as you called it, comes in many forms. To keep fish as an option for consumers now and in the future, we promote fishery management with more science-based practices for wild-caught U.S. fish. We particularly support land-based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) in the United States to help meet rising seafood demand with cleaner, greener, safer domestic fish. Transgenic or genetically modified fish, like the kind that professor Bradley is working on, are bred for profit and quick sale.
Although Dr Bradley is conducting his research in a closed system, the genetically modified fish that he is producing will most likely be raised in raceway aquaculture systems. Raceways are not closed systems, so escapes from these tanks of GMO fish could have detrimental effects on wild fish. They often grow faster and larger than regular fish, and escapes are a problem due to over aggressiveness and revved up appetites. When these captive fish, intermix with or overtake wild fish, they can weaken the characteristics of the wild population.
There are also serious health concerns for consumers eating GMO food including the threat of DNA to the human digestive system. You can learn more about this from a study conducted by the University of Athens: http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Food/Dona-Health-Risks-GM-Foods-2009.pdf