Jump to content

its sad, geneitcly modified fish...


Recommended Posts

I have never seen them, but does not surprise me, my point is that there is lots of people that do care and figured there would be some nasty negative press over it. What a job messing with DNA, scary if you ask me (trying your hand at gods work that is).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What scares the hell out of me if their research is correct is this: "American researchers are seeking approval for a super-size salmon, retooled with growth hormones"

Releasing something like that in the wild just sounds plain stupid to me. Salmon have survived how long so far and they want to go altering them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something about genetically altered anything getting out into the wild is bad in my opnion. Even if the intention is for farming, things can and do happen whether by accident or intentional mischief by radicals. I've heard of farms on the ocean being destroyed by activists more than once. I know a guy that raises fish for food in the Philippines on his farm. He replentishes the water directly from the ocean and dumps it right back. Others are by streams. It wouldn't take much for something to get out. Look what happed to the beautiful Diamond Lake, they killed everything off because something was put in there that didn't belong. My kid made a penny per fish he caught and killed in South Twin Lake this summer. What's that fish in the Columbia you get paid to kill? Messing with mother nature just goes too far some times.

Look at the genetically altered grass they made for some golf coarses. It's made to be resistant to poisions...now for some "unknown" reason, its spread out into the wild and taking over native plants and they have no way of killing it off.

For some reason this got me thinking about Sealions. I think they're here to mock us as humans. We build something and it makes their life easier like boat docks for their siestas and dams with fish ladders for their buffet. We messed with mother nature, mother nature overcomes us, but we can't do much about it but put things back the way they were.

I ramble.... I'm bored waiting for my water to clear again so I can rearrange more rocks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am really torn on this whole genetics thing...On one hand, I do not, think we should be changing anything about creatures and how they grow and live. However, I think that if I could have a pig grow a heart for my dieing wife, in order to save her life, I would sign up for that in a heart beat...It's very tough to deal with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wild salmon taste better, but there are far fewer of them. I'm not sure it serves them to taste better. It may be the end of them.

 

When Bush came into office, he had captive-bred salmon included in the counting of wild salmon, so they could be taken off the Endangered Species List and fished almost without limit. http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/salmon01bk.htm Things like this, in my opinion, are a far bigger threat than a few glowing fish (that were sterlized) sitting in a lab tank.

 

People often get very upset at the phrase "genetic engineering," but it's done some good things. It's created vegetables resistant to insects and drought, to feed poor desert areas. It's created fish and animals resistant to disease. Not all of it's good, of course, but I don't think it's all bad either. Sometimes the benefits (by conserving natural sources or feeding people/animals in areas w/o resources) outweigh the downside, if it's done responsibly and carefully (ie, sterlization, etc). I'm not a big fan of genetic engineering; I just think issues such as this have a lot of grey area.

 

Many tank-raised clowns won't bond with anemones now, because over time and breeding, they've lost that drive... That's a kind of incidental genetic engineering that's not good, but breeding clowns in captivity allows us to conserve more wild clowns, so I'm not sure it's the worst thing in the world. There's a trade off for everything.

 

I'm not sure that Oceans, as big as they are, can supply enough fish for food and entertainment at this rate indefinitely (esp since most of the tank specimen come from only equatorial and temperate regions), so maybe it's wise to use land-based labs to help meet both requirements and take some pressure off the real thing.

 

Nature is best, but it can't really support all of our demands...

 

That said, I don't see why anyone would care about those glowing fish. I wouldn't want them, because it's not like they're 'real' fish.. but if less picky Petsmart people take those instead of real fish, then whatever. 'Doesn't really matter, so long as they're sterile (the fish, not the Petsmart shoppers LOL) (whistle)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I won't buy farmed raised fish. I read a couple of years ago they where talking 120 pounders!!! Now I don't know how they would keep em all penned when they are jumpers. If they got loose and bred, we would be in a world of hurt. They would have to change the Herring and anchovies to grow larger to. The food chain would be all screwed up. The snow ball effect would be deadly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

not to get off topic but they really need to do somthin about the sea lions not only are they desimating salmon runs( what really pissed me off was the one they left to catch salmon in one of the dams fish ladders killing 20-30 salmon a day because they just eat the guts out thats there faverite part and did everything but put a bullet in its head and it just kept coming back) to also ruining rock fish populations off the coast somthin gota be done.Theyve cut the fishing back but they need to cut the seal population as well or start a breeding program for greatwhites and killer whales lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The farm-raised salmon weren't good survivors. They swam at the surface expecting food and were immediately picked off by fish eagles, etc; Also they didn't breed as easily as the wild salmon. They didn't have 'survival instincts' ...

 

I suspect that most enetically engineered fish would prob be incapable of reproducing, not because of sterilization only, but because of lack-of-survival-skills. I mean, if you took a tank-raised clowns (with generations of domestication behind it) and tried to let one loose in the ocean with wild clowns, do you think it'd (1)survive long enough to breed or (2)if it survived long enough to be viable, be capable and comfortable enough to do so? That's seriously improbable...

 

'Kinda like the glowing fish. Nature is harsh, and I figure a glowing fish conditioned to domestication probably couldn't make the jump into wild survival under any circumstance... Esp since it's GLOWING AT NIGHT and easy prey for predation. No way a glowing fish would survive long in the ocean. Easy target

 

RonJR - You're RIGHT that there's always that margin of error! It's absolutely there. No doubt. And that's why 100% should be sterilized ... :D

 

I never heard about the prob with sea lions, but I haven't lived on the W Coast for a long time. No idea it was such a prob. Gonna google it some more! I'm sure they're an issue, but there's no way they're more of an issue than the extensive over-fishing. The trawlers and over-fishing have to be stopped before the people start slaughtering hundreds of sea lions. Seals are hungry natural predators and their numbers have to be kept in check, but I've seen Discovery programs about the salmon boats, and their take is disgustingly, ridiculously huge. There should be more stringent limits on it.

 

Sea lions rely on salmon as a natural food source; these people do it for money. One salmon boat with nets can kill far more fish in a week than the sea lions, I'd suspect... (scratch) I'm not dissing fishers; I know they have families to support and this is their livelihood. I just think that you can start slaughtering the salmon's natural enemies because the number of people relying on profits from salmon is too great to be supported by natural salmon populations.... That's crazy stuff!! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If people werent buying the salmon in stores and restaurants then the number of fish caught would decline. All supply and demand. And you are right about the seals and sea lions depending on salmon as a food source. they were around eating salmon long before commercial fishing. I think that the natural predators of these animals have been wiped out though and we need to do something to keep thier population in check. Need more killer whales! YAY! lol. now that would make for an interesting trip to the coast....hehehe....watch a litle natural predation at its finest. whole new meaning to "whale watching"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe there's been a significant drop in killer whale populations?? I've no idea about that' date=' but it'd certainly explain the overabundance of the sea lions...[/quote']

 

I know that there has been a drop in seals on the lower pacific area (California and further south), so great whites and orca whales are going after otters now...We need to tell some fish to spread the word to the ocras, about all the fat seals up here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know that there has been a drop in seals on the lower pacific area (California and further south)' date=' so great whites and orca whales are going after otters now...We need to tell some fish to spread the word to the ocras, about all the fat seals up here.[/quote']yeah... time to relocate Orcas. Keiko would have solved the Sea Lion Problem at Bonneville Dam. :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...