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Jul 1, 2019

Genetically engineered fish hatched in Albany

AquaBounty Technologies proudly displayed thousands of recently hatched, genetically engineered salmon eggs to journalists from WLS-TV, Chicago, IndyStar and other media outlets this past week.

Previously, the company showed the eggs to Indiana Public Radio, the Associated Press and other media.

"We believe in transparency, because there is this concern with genetically modified," company CEO Sylvia Wulf told The Star Press at the end of the two-hour press tour of the indoor salmon farm.

"We want people to see that (our) fish look like fish and how we care for and raise those fish," she went on. "So in a limited, controlled environment, we want to be able to show people what we do and how we raise the fish."

Biosecurity controls for visitors at the compound on the outskirts of town include locked gates; surveillance cameras; sign-in/sign out logs; instructions not to touch the fish or equipment; white lab coats over street clothes; rubber boots; and multiple foot baths to disinfect the boots as you move between buildings.

Facility manager/scientist Pete Bowyer led reporters through a heavy curtain leading to the hatchery room where an incubation unit sat on a platform at the top of a staircase.

Machinery hooked up to the unit chills the water to 7.5 degrees Celsius (45.5 degrees Farhenheit); sterilizes the water with ultraviolet light; and recirculates it, he said.  Read the article.