AquaBounty’s GM salmon was intended to provide gains to productivity and sustainability – but the company ran into financial problems and ended production of the GM fish in 2024

Summary

AquaBounty’s GM salmon was designed to reach market size twice as fast as conventional salmon. The company claimed that its GM salmon would provide gains to productivity, sustainability, and animal welfare. Despite being approved for production, sale, and consumption in the US and Canada between 2015 and 2018, the GM salmon was plagued with challenges, including lack of consumer and retailer acceptance, animal welfare concerns, low productivity, and lawsuits. Filings with the US Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) showed a company in continuing financial trouble and incurring losses of millions of dollars per year. Consumers and retailers rejected the GM salmon and production figures were reported to be low. In 2024 AquaBounty announced it would stop production of GM salmon and was closing its last working facility, in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Facts at-a-glance

Claims

In 1989 the founding line of the GM fast-growing AquAdvantage salmon was engineered.^[1] The fish, marketed by AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., was designed to reach market size twice as fast as conventional salmon.^[2] AquaBounty claimed its GM salmon provided gains to productivity, sustainability, and animal welfare.^[3] 

Results

Since the AquAdvantage salmon was approved for sale in North America in 2015^[4] there has been no independent scientific analysis of AquaBounty’s claims for growth, feed efficiency, yield, nutritional content, better animal welfare, or environmental impact.

At various times AquaBounty had GM salmon-producing facilities in Rollo Bay^[5] and Bay Fortune,^[6] Prince Edward Island, Canada; in Indiana, USA;^[7] and in Panama.^[8]

Between 2015 and 2018, AquAdvantage salmon was approved for production, sale and consumption in the US and Canada.^[9] 

However, more than 80 US companies with a combined 18,000 locations said they would not stock the GM fish.^[10]

Filings with the US Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) covering the years from 2015 to 2019 show a company in continuing financial trouble and incurring losses of millions of dollars per year.^[11]

In 2023, reports suggested AquaBounty’s GM salmon production was about 1,200 tonnes a year.^[12] As a comparison, the US annually consumes 420,000 tonnes per year of processed salmon^[13] or 600,000 tonnes of “whole fish equivalent” (weight of the fish as caught, before processing).^[14] 

In 2023 AquaBounty announced it would transition its facilities in Canada to primarily producing non-GM salmon broodstock and eggs to fulfil a growing US market demand for the conventional product.^[15]

In February 2024 AquaBounty announced it would sell its Indiana facility “to secure… necessary financing”.^[16]

In December 2024 AquaBounty announced it would stop production of GM salmon and was closing its last working facility, at Bay Fortune in Prince Edward Island.^[17]

Companies

AquaBounty Technologies, incorporated in 1991 as A/F Protein,^[18] marketed the GM AquaAdvantage salmon. In 2013 Intrexon acquired majority ownership of AquaBounty.^[19] In 2019 Intrexon sold AquaBounty to TS Aquaculture, LLC, managed by Third Security, LLC, a venture capital firm led by former Intrexon chairman and CEO Randal J. Kirk.^[20]

Patents

In 2014 AquaBounty licensed “the technology covering genetically modified salmonid fish that express endogenous growth hormone under the control of an anti-freeze protein gene promoter from an edible fish” from HSC Research and Development Partnership and Genesis (formerly Seabright) for CAN$150,000 (US$140,235).[21] In 2015 AquaBounty applied for a patent on maternally induced sterility in animals, including fish. The patent was granted in 2019 and is active in the US,^[22] Canada,^[23] and other jurisdictions.^[24]

Claims

“Our mission is to play a significant part in ‘The Blue Revolution’ – bringing together biological sciences and molecular technology to enable an aquaculture industry capable of large-scale, efficient, and environmentally sustainable production of high quality seafood. Increased growth rates, enhanced resistance to disease, better food-conversion rates, manageable breeding cycles, and more efficient use of aquatic production systems are all important components of the sustainable aquaculture industry of the future.”^[25]

By 2010, when Ronald L. Stotish, executive director, CEO, and president of AquaBounty made this statement – a response to a coalition of 31 US consumer, animal welfare and environmental groups calling on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deny regulatory approval to its transgenic salmon^[26] – AquaBounty had been trading, in one form or another, for nearly 20 years.

It was only in 2010, as FDA approval of the GM salmon became more certain, that AquaBounty came to public notice and provoked controversy. In that year, alongside “Flying cars! Jet packs! Lasers that zap malaria-carrying mosquitoes!”, Time Magazine declared the GM salmon one of “the 50 best inventions of 2010”.^[27]

AquaBounty described itself as “a biotechnology company focused on improving productivity in the commercial aquaculture industry, which is the fastest growing segment of the worldwide food industry”.^[28] It said its “land-based farms, combined with its expertise in genetic engineering, are the answers to a rapidly increasing global demand for high-quality seafood”.^[29]

AquaBounty promoted its fast-growing GM salmon on the basis that it provides gains to productivity, sustainability, and animal welfare.^[30]  

The genetic modification

The AquAdvantage salmon was genetically engineered by adding a growth hormone gene from Pacific Chinook salmon, which is placed under the control of a promoter (DNA sequence that turns on the expression of a gene) and termination element from the antifreeze gene of the ocean pout, another type of fish.^[31] This gene enables the GM salmon to grow all year round, instead of only during spring and summer,^[32] as non-GM Atlantic salmon do.  

The modification, according to AquaBounty, meant the fish would “Reach market size twice as fast as traditional salmon. This advancement provides a compelling economic benefit to farmers (reduced growing cycle) as well as enhancing the economic viability of inland operations, thereby diminishing the need for ocean pens. AAS [AquAdvantage salmon] are also reproductively sterile, which eliminates the threat of interbreeding amongst themselves or with native populations, a major recent concern in dealing with fish escaping from salmon farms.”^[33]

As well as altering the fish to be sterile, AquaBounty engineered the fish to be female.^[34]

The broodstock for AquAdvantage salmon consists of conventionally bred females and GM male salmon, from which eggs and milt (fish semen) are extruded.^[35] The milt is added to the eggs and the resulting fertilised eggs are “pressure shocked” to create fish eggs with three copies of each chromosome (triploid) rather than two copies (diploid) and to make the fish genetically sterile. Only around 1% of AquAdvantage eggs remain diploid.^[36]

Results

Since the AquAdvantage salmon was approved for sale in North America in 2015^[37] there has been no independent scientific analysis of AquaBounty’s claims for growth, feed efficiency, yield, nutritional content, better animal welfare, or environmental impact. Therefore this account of the GM fish can only be told through its regulatory process, legal and civil society analysis, and media reports.

Regulatory approvals

In September 2010 the FDA held a meeting to consider the safety and effectiveness of a New Animal Drug Application (NADA) concerning AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage salmon.

Over the following months, the FDA received 322,031 written comments from a broad range of stakeholders. Public concerns – ranging from food safety, allergenicity, and nutrition to animal welfare, Native American tribal rights, science, and the data submitted by the company – were dismissed by the FDA.^[38]

In 2012 the FDA released a Draft Environmental Assessment and a preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for public comment. Around 1.8 million people submitted comments opposing approval of the GM salmon.^[39] But again, their concerns were dismissed.^[40]

Around the same time, Canada was also considering approval of the salmon. AquaBounty filed a novel food application for AquAdvantage salmon with Health Canada in February 2012^[41] and a novel feed application with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.^[42]

In 2013, Environment Canada approved the commercial production of GM salmon eggs. ^[43] The ruling gave the company permission to produce and export the eggs from its hatchery in Prince Edward Island to a grow-out site in Panama. 

AquaBounty did not explain why it chose Panama for its grow-out site, though Panamanian government officials said the firm had previously approached other countries, without success. According to an article in the UK Guardian: “After multiple refusals, the company eventually turned to Panama, where the project won a warm welcome from government officials… officials had few concerns about the potential health and environmental risks of growing GM salmon in Panama.”^[44]

Another Guardian article noted, however, that AquaBounty had still not gained approval from the Panamanian authorities to rear the fish on a commercial scale, adding that the site “so far consists of just a few tanks at the end of an unpaved road”.^[45]

FDA approval for consumption in the US followed in 2015.^[46] That approval was conditional, however. The salmon could only be produced at the Prince Edward Island egg production facility and the Panama grow-out facility for hatching, growing and harvesting fish eggs. Any new US facility for growing the salmon would require a separate site-specific approval. The company therefore submitted a supplementary NADA to the FDA requesting approval to grow AquAdvantage salmon at its farm site near Albany, Indiana.^[47]

The FDA approval was unusual in that the salmon was not assessed as food, but as a New Animal Drug under the NADA framework for regulating genetically engineered animals. Before the FDA ruling, no NADA-approved product had ever been consumed directly by humans in the way AquAdvantage salmon was intended to be and no genetically engineered animal had been approved for consumption anywhere in the world. The FDA’s choice of the NADA process was criticised because some of the data remain confidential, so the public could not make fully informed comments.^[48]

In 2016 Health Canada approved the production, sale, and consumption of AquAdvantage salmon as a novel food and feed in Canada.^[49] In 2018 the FDA announced approval of a contained grow-out facility in Indiana for rearing the salmon.^[50] 

Approval by these two major authorities should have signalled an open road ahead, but AquaBounty was to be plagued with challenges and delays on multiple fronts.

Legal challenges

In 2013 environmental groups in Canada applied for a judicial review of Environment Canada’s decision to approve the production of AquAdvantage salmon eggs in Prince Edward Island, on the grounds that it failed to assess whether the GM salmon could become invasive, potentially putting ecosystems and wild salmon at risk.[51] The Federal Court in Canada dismissed the application and ruled that the approval in Canada was lawful. The environmental groups appealed, but were unsuccessful.^[52]

In 2016 the Institute for Fisheries Resources and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the FDA,^[53] arguing that the FDA failed to properly consider the potential environmental impacts of the AquAdvantage salmon. It also demanded that the FDA publish the information on which it based its decision.^[54] In 2017 a court ruled that the FDA must release the information, but the FDA appealed. The plaintiffs opposed FDA’s appeal^[55] and were joined by two dozen law professors.^[56]  In 2018 the FDA’s appeal was denied and it was ordered to make public thousands of pages of documents relating to its approval of the transgenic salmon for human food.^[57]

In 2020 a court ruled that in approving the salmon, the FDA had ignored data on possible environmental consequences and violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.^[58] The judge ordered the FDA to complete its analysis of what might happen to conventional salmon if the transgenic salmon escaped into the wild. In spite of this, the court did not rescind the approval of the fish – meaning it remained legal to produce and sell the salmon.

The judge also told the FDA to complete its analysis of what might happen to non-GM salmon if the transgenic salmon escaped from landlocked farms into the wild. But the court did not rescind the approval of the fish – meaning it remained legal to produce and sell the salmon.

By 2022 the FDA had still failed to release the documents it had been ordered to release in 2018, prompting another lawsuit.[59] In the midst of the legal activity, AquaBounty closed its Panama facility.^[60]

Expansion – and contraction

In 2011 the USDA awarded a $500,000 research grant to AquaBounty, ignoring disclosures of a net loss of $2.8m in the first two quarters of 2011 and concerns that the firm could run out of cash in early 2012. Over the years, AquaBounty had received $3m from the US government and $6m from the Canadian government.^[61] However, one US grant was rescinded after a public outcry.^[62]

In 2012, a New York Times article reported that AquaBounty’s finances were not in good shape and that the company had reduced staff numbers. In March 2012, AquaBounty raised US$2m in new capital, partly from a businessman investor.^[63] But by October 2012 he was selling his stock to synthetic biology company Intrexon,^[64] which acquired majority ownership of AquaBounty in 2013.^[65]

Filings with the US Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) show a company in continuing financial trouble. In one filing AquaBounty noted: “We have incurred significant losses since our inception…For the fiscal years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, we experienced net losses of $9.3 million, $8.5 million, and $7.0 million, respectively.” ^[66]

At various times AquaBounty operated two GM salmon facilities in Prince Edward Island, at Rollo Bay (purchased 2016^[67]) and Bay Fortune.^[68] In 2018 the Prince Edward Island government approved a loan of CAN$2m to AquaBounty to complete construction of the Rollo Bay site.^[69]

In 2019 AquaBounty reported to the SEC that it had only sold small quantities of salmon and that for fiscal years 2019 and 2018, operating losses were $13.2 million and $10.4 million, respectively.^[70]

In October 2020 AquaBounty announced it had chosen a site in Kentucky for its third planned large-scale facility,^[71] known as “Farm 3”. But by December it had abandoned this plan.^[72]

In 2021 the company announced plans for $200 million expansion with a new “Farm 3” – a 479,000 square foot facility in Pioneer, Ohio which would produce 10,000 tonnes of GM salmon per year. Stocking, it said, would begin by 2023.^[73] 

In September 2022 it announced a new roadmap for the business – which included significant expansion in both North America and overseas. New land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facilities for its salmon, it said, would be built every two years. In addition to a new site in Brazil, the company said it was in “final negotiations'” for a joint venture with a partner in Israel. Other target sites were near New York City and in California, Mississippi, and Canada.^[74]

In November 2022 the Nasdaq threatened to delist AquaBounty due to its low share price.^[75] By October 2023 the company had regained compliance with the minimum share price requirement.^[76]

However, in its 2022 end of year filing with the SEC AquaBounty noted it had an accumulated deficit of $193 million, adding, “We expect to continue to experience losses from operations for the foreseeable future.”^[77]

The following year saw a reversal of the expansion plans. In February 2023 AquaBounty announced it would transition its facilities in Prince Edward Island, Canada, from producing GM salmon to primarily producing non-GM salmon broodstock and eggs to meet a growing US market demand for the conventional product.^[78]

By November 2023 the proposed Pioneer, Ohio-based farm had still not been completed. Costs for completion had escalated to $485–$495 million, of which approximately $140 million had already been spent.^[79] In its 31 December 2022 filing with the SEC, AquaBounty stated that it did not have the financial resources to fully finance its construction.^[80]

In December 2023, Canada’s federal government provided AquaBounty with up to $612,000 to support “business productivity and scale-up” at Rollo Bay, and in February 2024, provided AquaBounty with a loan of $158,246, at a 3% interest rate.[81]

In February 2024 AquaBounty announced it was selling its Indiana salmon farm “to secure the necessary financing… to pursue its growth strategy.”^[82] In July 2024 salmon and leafy greens producer Superior Fresh agreed to buy the farm for $9.5 million. Fishfarming Expert reported, “Unlike AquaBounty, the company doesn't see the advantage of genetic engineering, even in plants, and states on its website that its fish eat a non-GMO, organic diet. It says its fish contain twice the omega-3 content of other salmon, and ‘are not fed like most farmed fish, which are too often fed with formaldehyde, pesticides, antibiotics, and GMOs’.”^[83]

In October 2024 AquaBounty announced it was selling its Rollo Bay facility to resolve its “immediate cash requirements”.[84] Nevertheless, in November 2024 the Government of Canada and the Government of Prince Edward Island announced $231,095 in new funding for the company.^[85]

In December 2024 AquaBounty announced it would stop production of all GM salmon and was closing its last working facility, at Bay Fortune in Prince Edward Island.^[86] In March 2025 Canadian fish farm company Cooke Aquaculture agreed to buy the Canadian subsidiary of AquaBounty. Cooke said it does not farm GM fish and has no plans to do so; it bought the company for its hatcheries.^[87]

Environmental, food safety, and regulatory issues

Concerns about the food safety and environmental effects of AquaBounty’s transgenic salmon arose from diverse sources, even before its first 2015 approval.

In 2010 Dr Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, sent comments to the FDA on AquaBounty’s application to market the GM salmon. Hansen criticised the poor quality of AquaBounty’s data and the FDA’s analysis. He was concerned about the potential for increased allergenicity of the GM salmon and the possible presence of IGF-1, a hormone linked to cancer,^[88] which had been found at abnormally high levels in a 1992 study on the GM salmon^[89] and was not ruled out by more recent studies due to their inadequate design. He even describes apparent manipulation of the IGF-1 data by the FDA to make it appear that the levels in the GM fish were lower than they were.

Hansen wrote, “There is sloppy science, small sample sizes (only 6 fish per group for the allergenicity study), questionable practices (manipulating IGF-1 data), and woefully inadequate analysis (a conclusion of growth hormone levels in the flesh, despite having no data at all on growth hormone levels due to use of insensitive test methodology).”

Hansen added, “Because FDA’s assessment is inadequate, we are particularly concerned that this salmon may pose an increased risk of severe, even life-threatening allergic reactions to sensitive individuals. Instead of approving this product, FDA should be requiring studies with data from many more engineered fish, not the tiny sample of six fish on which it currently bases its conclusions. Unfortunately, even the data from those six fish raises concerns.”^[90]

In the November 2010 issue of the journal Science, a Duke University-led team published an article analysing the FDA’s approval procedures. The researchers concluded that the FDA failed to weigh the full impacts that widespread production of the GM salmon could have on human health and ecological safety.^[91] The first author recommended a stronger approval process “to ensure that such decisions serve society’s best interests”.^[92]

In 2011 eight senators sent a letter to the FDA asking it to “immediately cease” considering the approval of the GM salmon. The senators, who represented coastal states with fisheries, pledged to strip the FDA’s funding for the approval process. They argued that GM salmon could kill jobs in the fish farming industry, cause environmental damage, and harm consumers.^[93]  

Their fears were not entirely unfounded. In one 2013 study for which AquaBounty provided the GM salmon, these transgenic fish crossbred with wild brown trout and the resulting hybrids grew more rapidly than the GM salmon and non-GM crosses, outcompeting them. The authors concluded that inter-species hybridisation should be considered when assessing the risk of escape of GM salmon.^[94]

Animal welfare issues

AquaBounty has long claimed that its land-based RAS (recirculating aquaculture systems) pens help keep its salmon disease- and pathogen-free. A 2021 press release, for instance, says:

“AquaBounty’s salmon are free of antibiotics and ocean contaminants. Controlling the growing environment prevents exposure to parasites and pathogens that can lead to disease.”^[95]

However, some assessments provide a different picture of the welfare of the GM salmon.  

In 2005, according to a 2010 US FDA briefing based on AquaBounty data, the GM fish had a high frequency of physical deformities. Only 7.9% of triploid GM salmon and 17.2 percent of diploid GM salmon were free from malformations, compared with 89% of triploid and 98.7% of diploid non-GM salmon.^[96]

The US FDA downplayed the findings, suggesting that the small sample size (38 fish) of GM triploids was to blame.^[97] However, Consumers Union’s Dr Michael Hansen commented that poor results were also seen in the diploid GM fish, which had a sample size of over 1,500.^[98]

According to the FDA briefing, AquaBounty tested its GM salmon and the non-GM controls for physical and behavioural problems, differences in blood measurements and hormone levels, and allergenicity to humans.^[99]

However, in many tests, AquaBounty used sample sizes as low as six fish, too few to produce statistically significant results. Hansen said there was no reason why AquaBounty should not have tested more fish. Moreover, he said that in one of the tests, the six fish in each study group were selected from larger groups of 100–200 fish, and the report did not specify that they were chosen randomly. Additionally, AquaBounty admitted to culling deformed fish prior to selecting fish for inclusion in its studies, reducing the reliability of the results.^[100]

Hansen also commented on a practice by AquaBounty that he felt was misleading. This was AquaBounty’s reliance on 2007 data (the best year for the GM fish and the worst for non-GM fish) and its characterisation of 2005 data (the worst year for the GM fish) as an outlier to be ignored. By using 2007 data for many of its studies, AquaBounty was able to compare its best group of GM salmon against the group of non-GM salmon with the highest frequency of physical deformities – minimising the deformities in the GM salmon.^[101]

The FDA denied any bias in its interpretation of the malformations data.^[102]

The American Anti-Vivisection Society and Farm Sanctuary noted in a 2010 letter to the FDA that the transgenic salmon suffered high rates of malformations and health problems, such as jaw erosions and inflammation, and high mortality rates. They added that to support its claims of good welfare, AquaBounty engaged in “extensive culling of deformed, unhealthy, and otherwise undesirable fish, thus removing these individuals from inclusion in the study without collecting any data on them.” The groups wrote, “Any findings regarding the health of AquAdvantage salmon would therefore grossly underestimate the incidence of adverse outcomes and mortality and would essentially be meaningless.”^[103]

A report published by Norway’s Development Fund condemned this practice: “A more complete understanding of animal welfare issues is not possible… because of major scientific errors and bias in AquaBounty’s data collection. Before AquaBounty researchers physically examined salmon for health problems, they selectively killed off irregular fish, biasing the data set and severely compromising the integrity of the data. The FDA acknowledged this major scientific error, but never indicated that it would require AquaBounty to submit additional studies. The agency concluded it would address this serious issue through ‘post-approval safety surveillance’ – a dangerous wait-and-see attitude that will allow the fish to go to the marketplace before the FDA has made a scientific determination about the safety of the fish. This post-market regulatory approach also appears to treat consumers as guinea pigs.”^[104]

Additional welfare concerns were raised in an assessment by the Office of Aquatic Biotechnology, Dept of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, compiled in 2013 and made public in 2015 by legal disclosure.^[105] The partially redacted assessment concluded that AquAdvantage salmon was “more susceptible to A. salmonicida”, a disease-causing bacterium, than non-GM farmed comparators. The assessment added that it is “highly certain that AAS [AquAdvantage salmon] is highly susceptible to ISAV [infectious salmon anemia virus]”.^[106]

A 2021 assessment by Fisheries and Oceans Canada noted increased presence of inflammation and jaw erosions in the diploid AquAdvantage salmon, as well as gill, fin, and heart abnormalities and signs of liver damage in the triploid salmon. The assessment also expressed concern about the lack of measures “to ensure that all relevant mechanical barriers are in place and functioning properly”.^[107]

AquaBounty fined for regulatory violations

In 2014 AquaBounty was fined the equivalent of $9,500 by the Panamanian National Environmental Authority for regulatory violations in its facility growing GM salmon in tanks. The company had failed to secure necessary permits around water use and pollution of the environment.^[108]  

Allegations by former employee

In 2022 a former employee of AquaBounty, Braydon Humphrey, alleged that the company had committed numerous violations regarding worker and consumer safety, as well as animal welfare, at its Indiana plant. Humphrey gathered photographic and video evidence of alleged violations including:
* Mishandling of chemicals
* Toxic water conditions in fish tanks
* Large die-offs of fish
* Welfare problems in the fish, such as malformations (including two-headed spawn), fin erosion due to the high density of fish in tanks, and fungal disease
* Ruptured stomachs in fish due to abnormal growth
* Containment breaches and potential fish escapes
* High levels of ammonia in water discharged into the surrounding watershed.^[109]

Humphrey contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) with his complaint and was fired by AquaBounty within a week. OSHA dismissed the complaint. According to the Block Corporate Salmon campaign, “OSHA concluded that AquaBounty was justified in the reason they gave for firing him. Unfortunately, many of Humphrey’s claims were not even considered nor mentioned by OSHA”, even though Humphrey provided photo and video evidence.^[110]

In 2022 the FDA announced that it was seeking to amend its 2015 environmental assessment of AquaBounty’s production of transgenic salmon in several recirculating aquaculture facilities in the US and Canada.^[111] The draft amended environmental assessment, which was published in November 2022, concluded there was “negligible likelihood that any eggs or fish of any life stage of ABT (AquaBounty) salmon could escape into the wild and cause effects on the environment of the US”.^[112]

The agency said it would seek public comment on the draft until January 2023, adding that it would hold a virtual public meeting on the subject in December 2022.^[113] As of August 2024 there has been no report on the outcome of that consultation and no further mention of the amended draft by the FDA.

Performance

The 2013 report by the Office of Aquatic Biotechnology, Dept of Fisheries and Oceans Canada said "there appears to be noteworthy variation in growth rate” of AquAdvantage salmon between different generations and environmental conditions.[114]

A 2016 report by the civil society group Food & Water Watch stated that the data on growth that AquaBounty presented to the FDA used a slow-growing non-GMO salmon to compare to the GMO variety, which made the GM salmon growth rates appear extremely fast by comparison. The report said that the comparator fish was not representative of the commercial Atlantic salmon widely grown in the salmon industry and its use greatly inflated the growth potential of the transgenic fish. The report cited two major commercial growers as saying that their non-GM salmon grow as fast as, or faster than, the GM salmon.^[115]

Fish production

It was always unclear how much transgenic salmon AquaBounty produced.

In 2016, media reports said that barring regulatory or legislative setbacks, the GM salmon would be available at restaurants and grocers in about two years.^[116] By 2017 small quantities had reportedly been sold in Canada.^[117] However, assessing quantities has been hindered by lack of labelling. Based on AquaBounty reports, sales of the unlabelled transgenic salmon into the marketplace were estimated at around 4.5 tonnes.^[118]

In Canada, there is a national voluntary labelling standard for genetically engineered foods. According to the government website: “The decision of whether or not to proceed with voluntary labelling is that of AquaBounty Technologies Inc.”^[119]

In the US, genetically engineered (“bioengineered”) human food – including AquAdvantage salmon – must be labelled.^[120] This should, in theory, help regulators and consumers trace the fish through the human food supply and animal feed chains, though there was never a clear picture of where the relatively small amount of AquAdvantage salmon that was produced was sold.

In 2020 reports said the fish would be ready for sale throughout the US Midwest in October.^[121]

That year, in a bid to raise $9.2 million from investors, the company announced that its new goal was to produce 50,000 tonnes of transgenic salmon per year by 2027. However, the Fish Site noted, “The company has a long way to go – its current locations in Prince Edward Island and Indiana have the capacity to produce 250 tonnes and 1,200 tonnes respectively” per year. 

A statement from the company said: “We also are seeking regulatory approval for AquAdvantage salmon in Brazil, Argentina, Israel, and China. Once approved in these locations, we plan to commercialise through a combination of partnerships, joint ventures, and licensing arrangements.”^[122]

By May 2021 the company said it had received purchase orders for five tonnes of GM salmon.^[123] In June it reported that it was shipping out orders. It also said that the GM fish had been approved for sale in Brazil.^[124]

In 2022 AquaBounty reported making $783,000 on harvested salmon, but only $340,900 of this was from transgenic salmon.^[125] As a comparison, the North American salmon market in 2022 was worth USD 6.3 billion.^[126]

Until that time few were aware that AquaBounty also produced conventional salmon. But even this proved problematic, due to lack of colour consistency in the fish.^[127]

A 2023 press report suggested production was about 1,200 tonnes a year.^[128] This represents a tiny proportion of the salmon the US consumes annually – 420,000 tonnes of the processed product^[129] or 600,000 tonnes of “whole fish equivalent” (weight of the fish as caught, before processing).^[130] In 2022 top North American producers Cooke Aquaculture and Mowi respectively produced 58,000 and 41,000 tonnes of farmed conventional salmon.^[131]

AquaBounty’s ambition to produce 50,000 tonnes of transgenic salmon annually by 2027 would put it amongst the top three producers in the US. But this figure, set against the 91 tonnes it produced in 2022 and its reported 1,200 tonnes in 2023, shows that the company had a long way to go to become a serious competitor.

No consumers = no market

The scientist Alison Van Eenennaam and co-authors blamed onerous regulations for the company’s losses, noting: “The company estimated it has spent $8.8 million on regulatory activities to date.” They added, “There was no way for this small US company to obtain any revenue to offset their ongoing research and development costs during the regulatory process.” They estimated the costs of delaying the spread of the transgenic salmon into the global marketplace at more than $25.5 billion.^[132]

However, this assumes a ready market of businesses and consumers anxious to distribute, buy, and eat the fish. In reality, from the first hint that the salmon would be approved, surveys of US consumers showed rejection of the product. A 2010 poll showed 78% of consumers felt the FDA should not approve it.^[133] In a 2013 poll, 77% of respondents said they would refuse to eat the GM salmon if given a choice and 73% said the FDA should require independent safety testing of the salmon.^[134] The same year, a poll for the New York Times found 93% wanted GM foods identified by labelling and 75% said they would not eat GM fish.^[135]

In Norway in 2015, a small trial conducted as part of a master’s thesis placed salmon deliberately mislabelled as GM alongside conventional salmon in a fish shop. The labels denoted four different salmon products: conventional Atlantic salmon, Atlantic salmon with double omega-3, Atlantic genetically engineered salmon, and Atlantic genetically engineered salmon with double omega-3. The price of the GM products was also varied by both a premium (15%) and a discount (15%). Nevertheless, there was a “clear preference for conventional salmon compared to GM salmon”.^[136]

Food service suppliers reflected customer preferences in refusing to stock GM salmon. In 2021 US food service supplier Aramark confirmed its boycott of GM salmon,^[137] joining a long list of food service providers, retailers, seafood companies, and restaurants in rejecting the salmon. In all, more than 80 US companies with a combined 18,000 locations said they would not stock the GM fish.^[138]

In May 2022 AquaBounty confirmed it was working with only one restaurant distributor.^[139] But by August 2022 the distributor had “decided to wait until the product was successfully introduced in the marketplace”.^[140]

An AquaBounty statement said the company was focussing its distribution in the food service channel, seafood distributors, and wholesalers, but CEO Sylvia Wulf would not specify which ones “for proprietary considerations”.^[141]

Companies

AquaBounty was originally incorporated in 1991 as A/F Protein. The company aimed to pursue the commercial development of a protein technology under licence from the University of California at Berkeley.^[142]

The protein was a genetically engineered version of an antifreeze protein found in ocean pout which, the company claimed, could address the issue of farmed salmon in open sea net pens dying off when sea temperatures got too cold.^[143]

In 1989 research on transgenic salmon began at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.^[144] That same year the founding line of AquAdvantage salmon was created. An Investigational New Animal Drug (INAD) dossier was opened with the FDA in 1995, in preparation for regulatory approval.^[145] In 1996, A/F Protein acquired a licence to the AquAdvantage technology from the University of Toronto and Memorial University of Newfoundland. The company was reorganised in 2000 into two separate entities: A/F Protein, Inc., which retained the protein technology, and AquaBounty Farms, Inc., which obtained the AquAdvantage technology. AquaBounty Farms changed its name in 2004 to AquaBounty Technologies, Inc.^[146]

In 2019 Intrexon sold AquaBounty to TS Aquaculture, LLC, which is managed by Third Security, LLC, a venture capital firm led by former Intrexon chairman and CEO Randal J. Kirk.^[147]

In December 2024 AquaBounty closed its last working facility, at Bay Fortune in Prince Edward Island.^[148]

Patents

A patent on a GM gene construct for production of transgenic fish engineered to express a growth hormone gene sequence under control of a promoter from ocean pout (among other fish) was filed at the European Patent Office in 1992, granted in 2001, and has since expired. The applicants were Ontario-based HSC Research and Development Partnership and Seabright Corp Ltd.^[149] By this time, Seabright had been renamed Genesis Group, Inc.^[150] The same applicants filed a patent on transgenic salmon expressing a growth hormone gene linked to an antifreeze protein promoter in 1994. It was granted in 1996 and has since expired.^[151]

In 2014 AquaBounty licensed “the technology covering genetically modified salmonid fish that express endogenous growth hormone under the control of an anti-freeze protein gene promoter from an edible fish” from HSC and Genesis for CAN$150,000 (US$140,235). The agreement replaced a previous one between the same parties.^[152]

In 2015 AquaBounty applied for a patent on maternally induced sterility in animals, including fish. The patent was granted in 2019 and is active in the US,^[153] Canada,^[154] Australia,^[155] Brazil,^[156] and Korea,^[157]as well as other jurisdictions named in the patent filings. It is discontinued at the European Patent Office.^[158] A World Intellectual Property Office filing is pending.^[159]

Author: Pat Thomas. Editing and a contribution to section, “Animal welfare issues”: Claire Robinson. Scientific review: Prof Michael Antoniou.

Last updated: 13 March 2025. This article was created as part of the GMO Promises project. A more concise version is on the GMO Promises website.

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[28] Time Magazine (2010). The fifty best inventions of 2010 – faster-growing salmon. 11 Nov. https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2029497_2030617_2029720,00.html

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[31] Yaskowiak ES et al (2006). Characterization and multi-generational stability of the growth hormone transgene (EO-1α) responsible for enhanced growth rates in Atlantic salmon. Transgenic Research 15: 465–480. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11248-006-0020-5

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[34] US FDA (2022). Draft amended environmental assessment for production of AquAdvantage® salmon at the Bay Fortune and Rollo Bay facilities on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Nov. https://web.archive.org/web/20221117215058/https://www.fda.gov/media/163153/download ; Bodnar A (2010). Risk assessment and mitigation of AquAdvantage salmon. ISB News Report, Oct. Version archived by Wayback Machine 12 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190412091251/https://www.aquabounty.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Risk_assessment_mitigation_of_AAS-Oct2010.pdf

[35] AquaBounty (2013). How we produce AquAdvantage® salmon eggs. https://aquabounty.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/How-AquAdvantage-Salmon-Eggs-are-Produced.pdf

[36] Bodnar A (2010). Risk assessment and mitigation of AquAdvantage salmon. ISB News Report. Archived in the Wayback Machine, 25 May 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20190412091251/https://www.aquabounty.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Risk_Assessment_Mitigation_of_AAS-Oct2010.pdf

[37] US FDA (2015). Final rule: New animal drugs in genetically engineered animals; opAFP-GHc2 recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid construct. 80 FR 73104. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/11/24/2015-29902/new-animal-drugs-in-genetically-engineered-animals-opafp-ghc2-recombinant-deoxyribonucleic-acid

[38] FDA website. AquAdvantage Salmon – FDA response to public comments to the Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/intentional-genomic-alterations-igas-animals/aquadvantage-salmon-fda-response-public-comments-veterinary-medicine-advisory-committee#1

[39] Andrews J (2013). Target and other retailers reject GE salmon as FDA nears decision on approval. Food Safety News, 30 May. https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/05/target-and-other-retailers-reject-ge-salmon/ ; Center for Food Safety (2013). Nearly 2 million people tell FDA not to approve GE salmon. 30 Apr. https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/2151/nearly-2-million-people-tell-fda-not-to-approve-ge-salmon

[40] FDA website. AquAdvantage salmon – response to public comments on the Environmental Assessment.

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[41] Canadian Government webpage. AquAdvantage salmon. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/genetically-modified-foods-other-novel-foods/approved-products/aquadvantage-salmon.html

[42] US Securities and Exchange Commission (2014). AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. https://investors.aquabounty.com/node/7966/html 

[43] Canada Gazette, Part 1 (2013). Significant New Activity Notice No. 16528. 23 Nov. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2013/2013-11-23/pdf/g1-14747.pdf

[44] Goldenberg S (2013). GM salmon's global HQ – 1,500m high in the Panamanian rainforest. The Guardian, 24 Apr. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/24/genetically-modified-salmon-aquabounty-panama-united-states

[45] Goldenberg S (2013) Canada approves production of GM salmon eggs on commercial scale. Guardian, 25 Nov. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/25/canada-genetically-modified-salmon-commercial

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[47] AquaBounty (2018). AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. announces FDA approval of first US facility for commercial production of AquAdvantage salmon. Press release. https://investors.aquabounty.com/news-releases/news-release-details/aquabounty-technologies-inc-announces-fda-approval-first-us

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[49] Government of Canada (2016). Decision document DD2016-117 – Determination of the safety of AquaBounty Technologies Inc.'s salmon (Salmo salar L.) event. 19 May. https://inspection.canada.ca/plant-varieties/plants-with-novel-traits/approved-under-review/decision-documents/dd2016-117/eng/1463076782568/1463076783145

[50] FDA approves application for AquaBounty salmon facility in Indiana (2018). Press release. Archived at Archive-It, 22 Dec 2020. https://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/20201222195002/https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/cvm-updates/fda-approves-application-aquabounty-salmon-facility-indiana. See also: Hjul J (2018). US go ahead for GM salmon facility, 27 Apr. Fish Farmer Magazine. https://www.fishfarmermagazine.com/2018/04/27/us-go-ahead-gm-salmon-facility

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[53] Case 3:16-cv-01574. Filed: 30 March 2016. https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/2016-3-30-dkt-1--pls--complaint_94703.pdf

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[55] Case: 17-71121. Filed: 15 August 2017. https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/mandamus-opp_final_8_15_2017_43371.pdf 

[56] Case: 17-71121, Amicus Brief. Filed: 15 August 2017. https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/deliberative-process-amicus-motion-and-brief--as-filed_43581.pdf 

[57] Center for Food Safety (2018). Court rejects Trump Administration secrecy in genetically engineered salmon case. Press release. https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/5222/court-rejects-trump-administration-secrecy-in-genetically-engineered-salmon-case 

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[60] Blank C (2019). AquaBounty to close Panama farm. Seafood Source, 3 May. https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/aquabounty-to-close-panama-farm 

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[64] The Fish Site (2012). Intrexon to acquire 48 per cent stake in AquaBounty Technologies. 6 Nov. https://thefishsite.com/articles/intrexon-to-acquire-48-per-cent-stake-in-aquabounty-technologies-1 ; Pollack A (2012). Engineered fish moves a step closer to approval. New York Times, 21 Dec. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/business/gene-altered-fish-moves-closer-to-federal-approval.html ; Fish Update (2012). Delays put question mark over GM salmon as development company receives bid. 10 Dec. Archived at the Wayback Machine 21 Jan 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20130121121155/http://fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/18699/Delays_put_question_mark_over_GM_salmon_as_development_company_receives_bid.html

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[68] AquaBounty (2024). AquaBounty announces plans to cease fish farming operations. 11 Dec. https://investors.aquabounty.com/news-releases/news-release-details/aquabounty-announces-plans-cease-fish-farming-operations

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[78] Sapin R (2023). AquaBounty shifts GM salmon egg supply strategy in hunt for new revenue streams. IntraFish, 7 Feb. https://www.intrafish.com/salmon/aquabounty-shifts-gm-salmon-egg-supply-strategy-in-hunt-for-new-revenue-streams/2-1-1400569

[79] Fish Farming Expert (2023). AquaBounty farm cost estimate rises to nearly $½ billion. 7 Nov. https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/aquabounty-q3-2023-pioneer-ohio-ras/aquabounty-farm-cost-estimate-rises-to-nearly-billion/1589267

[80] AquaBounty Technologies, Inc (2022). Annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2022. https://annualreport.stocklight.com/nasdaq/aqb/23711101.pdf

[81] US Securities and Exchange Commission (2024). AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. Filing of period ended June 30, 2024. https://investors.aquabounty.com/static-files/351f0f61-d86b-4179-81e4-63125559c27b

[82] Negrete M (2024). AquaBounty puts its Indiana salmon farm for sale. 14 Feb. https://weareaquaculture.com/news/aquaculture/aquabounty-puts-its-indiana-salmon-farm-for-sale

[83] Moore G (2024). AquaBounty agrees to sell Indiana salmon RAS for $9.5m. Fishfarming Expert, 2 Jul. https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/aquabounty-superior-fresh/aquabounty-agrees-to-sell-indiana-salmon-ras-for-95m/1790656#

[84] AquaBounty (2024). AquaBounty Technologies provides update. 3 Sept. https://investors.aquabounty.com/news-releases/news-release-details/aquabounty-technologies-provides-update

[85] Government of Canada (2024). Government of Canada and Province of Prince Edward Island fund projects under the Atlantic Fisheries Fund. 13 Nov. https://www.canada.ca/en/fisheries-oceans/news/2024/11/government-of-canada-and-province-of-prince-edward-island-fund-projects-under-the-atlantic-fisheries-fund.html

[86] AquaBounty (2024). AquaBounty Announces Plans to Cease Fish Farming Operations. 11 Dec. https://investors.aquabounty.com/news-releases/news-release-details/aquabounty-announces-plans-cease-fish-farming-operations

[87] Fish Farming Expert (2025). Cooke buys AquaBounty Canada for hatchery facilities. 4 Mar. https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/aquabounty-canada-cooke-aquaculture/cooke-buys-aquabounty-canada-for-hatchery-facilities/1903676

[88] Hansen M (2010). Comments of Consumers Union on Genetically Engineered Salmon, Food and Drug Administration Docket No. FDA-201034-N-0001, Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee Meeting. Consumers Union, 16 Sept. Archived 9 May 2012 in Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20120509020206/http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/CU-comments-GE-salmon-0910.pdf

[89] Du SJ et al (1992). Growth enhancement in transgenic Atlantic salmon by the use of an “all fish” chimeric growth hormone gene construct. Nature Biotechnology 10(2):176-81. doi: 10.1038/nbt0292-176. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1368229/

[90] Hansen M (2010). Comments of Consumers Union on Genetically Engineered Salmon, Food and Drug Administration Docket No. FDA-201034-N-0001, Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee Meeting. Consumers Union, 16 Sept. Archived 9 May 2012 in Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20120509020206/http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/CU-comments-GE-salmon-0910.pdf

[91] Smith MD et al (2010). Genetically modified salmon and full impact assessment. Science Magazine 330, 19 Nov. Archived at Salmone.org. http://www.salmone.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/gm-salmon-impact-assessment.pdf

[92] Duke Law (2010). Wiener co-authors Science article on genetically modified salmon. 18 Nov. https://law.duke.edu/news/5841

[93] Seidman A (2011). FDA faces opposition over genetically engineered salmon. Los Angeles Times, 31 Jul. https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2011-jul-31-la-na-congress-salmon-20110731-story.html

[94] Oke KB et al (2013). Hybridization between genetically modified Atlantic salmon and wild brown trout reveals novel ecological interactions. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2013.1047#d1e473

[95] AquaBounty (2021). Press release: AquaBounty sells out the first commercial-scale harvest of genetically engineered Atlantic salmon from its Indiana farm. 10 May. https://investors.aquabounty.com/news-releases/news-release-details/aquabounty-sells-out-first-commercial-scale-harvest-genetically

[96] US FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine: Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee (2010). Briefing packet: AquAdvantage salmon. 20 Sept. Table 4. https://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/20170404230823/https://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/VeterinaryMedicineAdvisoryCommittee/UCM224762.pdf

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