GMO Fish: What Happens if They Escape into the Wild?

How would genetically modified fish impact an ecosystem? What happened if they escaped? Now, scientists are examining what would happen if genetically modified fish escaped into wild populations.

Genetically modified fish that overexpress growth hormone have been around for more than 25 years. Yet fish have yet to enter commercial production. This is because it's difficult to eradicate an established fish population.

In this latest study, the researchers examined genetically modified salmonids. These fish possess a suite of traits that may, under different conditions and at different life stages, may render them more or less fit than wild salmon. For example, the scientists found that growth hormone-transgenic salmon exhibit enhanced feeding motivation. This, in theory, would help them outcompete wild salmon for food. However, this aggressive feeding may also expose them to greater predation risk and therefore reduce their net fitness.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to predict what will happen since there are a wide range of possible invasion scenarios. Even though many transgenic lines are expected to have reduced fitness in comparison to wild type salmon, they could become established in alternative niches.

"Many novel genotypes in the form of invasive species can successfully establish in new ecosystems even without having a specific evolutionary history in those locations," write the others in the news release.

The researchers recommend that a new modeling approach should be used. It should rely on the assessment of transgenic and surrogate strains in a broad array of conditions designed to simulate natural ecosystems.

The findings are published in the journal BioScience.

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