But there is equal concern on the Pacific Coast. Scientists in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, New Zealand and other countries have been manipulating genes in fish for more than a decade, and some of the research is on the verge of commercial development. The company has sought FDA approval to start marketing the eggs to fish farms. The fish can reach market size in 18 months, rather than the 36 months it now takes a typical Atlantic salmon. The protein acts as a switch that allows the Atlantic salmon to produce a growth hormone year-round.
Normal salmon produce such a growth hormone only during warm months.
Already, more than half the salmon sold in the United States are raised in farms. Elsewhere, scientists in British Columbia and in the United States have been experimenting with such Pacific Coast stocks as the coho. In New Zealand, a company using genetic engineering was developing what could have been a mammoth chinook, or King salmon, they believed could eventually grow to 550 pounds. Wild chinook have been caught weighing 100 pounds or so. According to reports out of New Zealand, some of the first generation of chinook under development had lumps on their heads and other deformities.