Genetically modified salmon producer moves to build brood and likely smolt grow-out while also refurbishing old 1,200-tonne-capacity facility.
Maynard-, Massachusetts based genetically modified salmon maker, AquaBounty, has disclosed that it is building a new 250-tonne commercial production facility — as well as a brood-stock enclosure — in Rollo Bay, Prince Edward Island.
The company used a an industry award celebration to also announce it was renovating the former Bell Fish Company’s 1,200 t production facility in Albany, Indiana, which it purchased in June 2017.
The Nasdaq-listed company announced earlier this year that its trademark Aqu-
Advantage salmon had already been sold in small quantities to Canadian consumers. It added, however, that the AquAdvantage fish to be grown in Eastern Canada are reared in a land-based facility “away from the ocean, thus eliminating the risk of escapes impacting native fish populations and the risk of pollutants or contaminants harming marine ecosystems”
“Its (trademark) AquAdvantage fish program is based upon a single, specific molecular modification in fish that results in more rapid growth in early development,” a statement said. The company on Thursday was marking an industry award that showed it had the support of Canadian biotech firms, researchers and government.
Although the PEI fish are being hailed as ‘disease-free, antibiotic-free salmon’, the company in November 2015 won U.S. FDA approval for an ‘Animal Drug Application’ ushering in the production, sale, and consumption of ‘game-changer’ AquAdvantage salmon.
