US FDA Approves GMO Atlantic Salmon-Fish to be raised in Northeastern PEI

 The US Food and Drug Administration announced on November 19, 2015 that it had approved, for the first time ever, a food genetically modified from an animal. This genetically modified Atlantic Salmon grows exponentially faster than ordinary salmon, They (apparently) managed to stick a Chinook Salmon gene into an Atlantic Salmon.  Under a special agreement with Aquabounty, the company responsible for developing the salmon and various other agencies these fish are to be reared in two special facilities, one in Prince Edward Island and the other in Panama.

It is stated that these fish are sterile and pose " no threat to the environment whatsoever" according to an article on Business Insider and that they are being raised in land-based tanks. But ...on the FDA website regarding the fish it says this:

3. What did the FDA consider to be the potential environmental impacts?
In compliance with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the FDA evaluated the potential effects on the environment of the United States from an approval of the application related to AquAdvantage Salmon. Specifically, the FDA asked the following four questions:

1. What is the likelihood that AquAdvantage Salmon will escape the conditions of confinement?
2. What is the likelihood that AquAdvantage Salmon will survive and disperse if they escape the conditions of confinement?
3. What is the likelihood that AquAdvantage Salmon will reproduce and establish if they escape the conditions of confinement?
4. What are the likely consequences to, or effects on, the environment of the United States should AquAdvantage Salmon escape the conditions of confinement?

Based on the multiple forms of physical and biological containment proposed by AquaBounty Technologies in the application, the FDA found that an approval of the application related to AquAdvantage Salmon would not cause a significant impact on the environment of the United States. This finding is based on the extremely low likelihood that AquAdvantage Salmon could escape into the environs surrounding the PEI and Panama facilities and survive in an ocean or waterway and interbreed with wild Atlantic salmon due, in part, to the physical and biological containment measures specified in the approved application, and thus affect the environment of the United States. Based on the agency’s conclusion from the final Environmental Assessment, the agency issued a final Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

That bit doesn't mention them being "sterile"-it just says they "probably won't" get away.

Hmmmm....Ok so they won't affect the environment of the United States. Well isn't that special? They also say there's a "low likelihood" of them escaping- I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with that. A little more digging indicates this facility in PEI is located along the Fortune River near where it flows into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. While this is not immediately near New Brunswick or the Miramichi basin it is not far from many salmon rivers in Nova Scotia. Part of the rationale behind the "low risk" assessment is , apparently, that farmed Atlantic Salmon do not adjust well to switching to a "normal diet" versus being "hand fed." However the study fails to mention for example, how (escaped) farmed Atlantic Salmon have established themselves in places like the Patagonia Region in South America- or how escapees on the west coast have frequently been seen intermixed with wild Pacific salmon in places such as Washington State and British Columbia-where they have successfully reproduced in three rivers.

There seems to be little in the way of any Environmental Impact Assessment done on this side of the border-and little mention about it-most of the battle, based on info in the (Canadian) media is the proverbial battle over whether GMO foods are safe to eat, and not the possible effects of them interbreeding with wild fish. This fosters a certain complacency ( "If I don't like it I won't eat it") but that does little to protect wild salmon stocks.