Now tell Canada to step up and better regulate GM salmon to protect both wild fish and consumers
The farmed salmon in your grocer’s seafood case is most likely from an open net-pen located in Canada, Norway, Iceland or Chile. That’s because only a small amount of more responsibly farmed salmon from land-based closed containment facilities currently enters the Canadian marketplace. The situation is about to change, with nearly one million metric tonnes of land-based production scheduled to enter the marketplace over the next few years and we welcome that change – for the most part. But some of that land-based salmon will be genetically modified; and it won’t be labelled as such.
AquaBounty™ farmed salmon is now being produced in both Canada and the US and is approved for human consumption in both places. Despite the efforts of Canadian civil society groups, our courts declined to overturn the approval of GM salmon on environmental grounds. However, courts in the US recently adopted a different approach.
In response to a petition filed by SeaChoice partner organization, Ecology Action Centre, and others, a California court recently ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ignored the serious environmental consequences of approving GM salmon and the full extent of plans to grow and commercialize the salmon in the U.S. and around the world, violating the National Environmental Policy Act. The Court also ruled that FDA’s unilateral decision that GM salmon could have no possible effect on highly endangered wild Atlantic salmon was wrong, violating the Endangered Species Act.
This decision will ensure that U.S. legislation and policy for environmental and species protection is followed when future applications come forward for genetically modified food animals and in that sense, it is a huge victory. However, the FDA can address these procedural errors by conducting the appropriate environmental review – something it is sure to do now that AquaBounty has set up shop in the US, as well as Canada.
Both Canadian and U.S. regulators identified the potential high risk to wild Atlantic salmon should the GM salmon escape to the wild. Competition for food and habitat, predation and transmission of disease represent clear threats to severely depleted stocks of wild salmon; and a small proportion of the GM stock will also be capable of interbreeding, polluting the genetic integrity of wild Atlantic salmon. Nevertheless, both regulators decided that closed containment facilities were a whole answer to this risk, failing to assess the implications of accidental releases due to human or mechanical error.
The approval of GM salmon is a classic example of permitting what is possible, without any public dialogue on what is wise or desirable. The fact remains that the farming of salmon represents a net loss of fish suitable for human consumption: it does not relieve world hunger or contribute to food security. It doesn’t even reduce fishing pressure on wild fish, because the market for salmon is growing so rapidly worldwide, driven largely by the massive production of farmed salmon. The genetic modification of the fish to grow faster only exacerbates the pressure on the forage fisheries that supply the fish meal and fish oil required to produce carnivorous fish.
Industry might argue that the marketplace determines what is wise or desirable, but this particular product is being passed off as the same as any other salmon: it doesn’t have to be labelled as genetically modified. The marketplace has nothing to say about GM salmon because they’re invisible to all but the most determined and discerning consumers, who demand to know the source of the fish they buy.
In Canada, we need to take further action to ensure that we and wild salmon are safeguarded from the GM salmon being produced here. In October, a petition was launched in the House of Commons to enhance regulations for the production of GM food animals, improve consumer protection (so you can know when you’re eating GM salmon!) and harmonize legislation with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Take action today: this petition closes January 13, 2021!
