(Photo by Cattalin)Īs technology has improved, commercial aquaculture industry partners have begun to ask ARS researchers about more features they’d like to see in salmon. Many consumers value the nutritional benefits of salmon, which include a high concentration of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Rather than matching fish to other related fish to measure the inheritance of various traits, they can simply examine the genome of an individual fish to see whether it possesses the markers for desired traits.
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Today, they are beginning to complement this technique with the use of genetic markers, a process of tracking specific pieces of the genetic code correlated with different traits of interest. Researchers have to painstakingly record the family lineages of each fish, and spawn those with the most promising traits.
It’s a complicated equation, because salmon breeding is a relatively long process – the fish take approximately 4 years to reach reproductive maturity. Brian Peterson, Research Leader for the USDA-ARS National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center in Franklin, ME, the research emphasis is now about 70% growth/30% sea lice resistance. To combat the issue, scientists are subtly shifting the emphasis in their breeding programs. Raising large fish quickly doesn’t help producers – or consumers – if the fish are weakened or killed by sea lice, a widespread parasite that latches onto the fish in the open net pens in the ocean where most commercially-farmed salmon are raised. One issue that’s been front and center is disease resistance. More recently, though, that agenda has expanded as consumers and producers have begun paying attention to a host of additional issues, from sustainability to aesthetics. The goal has been to breed fish that grow as large as possible, as fast as possible. Historically, producers who raise fish, and the researchers who help them, have been most concerned with yield – that is, how much fish can be raised, and how quickly. When you order salmon at a restaurant or buy it at the store, what’s the first thing you look at? Price? Nutritional information? Color?ĪRS researchers are looking at all of those subjects and more as they partner with the commercial aquaculture industry to produce the salmon of the future.