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Australia To Use GM To Control Carp
mskfisher writes "Yahoo! News is running an AFP story on Australia's efforts to control the carp population using a 'male-only' gene. The gene will prevent the carp, considered a pest in Australia, from producing female offspring. The carp has wiped out some 90% of the native south Australian fish population, namely perch and bass. They do not, however, mention any ways of controlling the spread of this gene in the wild, besides the obvious death of any affected population."
"Australians report rise of homosexual fish"
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Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
Since all carp that I know of are freshwater fish, it stands to reason by that assumption that the species was introduced by man. In fact the article mentions the word "introduced" but neglects to mention by what means. Had it been by natural cause, the choice of word would commonly be "migration".
As such it would be next to impossible to spread this gene outside of Australia, where the species isn't wanted anyway. So unless I am wrong in my basic assumption that man caused this in the first place, the problem is contained.
Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. -Ayn Rand
In general, one would think that introducing a GM freshwater fish in Australia would be a safe bet for containment. However...
There is NO WAY that this gene could be contained in the small "backwater basin" in Australia. There are enough other locales in the world (the majority of the US, and its Great Lakes for one) in which carp are despised, and enough motivated people with mobility, that there would quickly spring up a "black market" in these GM carp for export to ponds, lakes, and rivers abroad.
The cure for cancer is coming: Reovirus
The gene does not cause infertility, just maleness. So it can spread. Which is in fact what they want; They can't very well introduce the gene into all of the fish out there (if they could, they would have just killed them all) so what they want to do is introduce this gene, then as it spreads, gradually the proportion of males in the population will increase. When you have all males, then the population dies. There are, of course, problems with this approach. One is the potential for accidental spread, both to other populations of carp outside Australia, and to other species.* Another is that the females who are left are likely to produce more surviving offspring (population limits in fish are not usually from the number of eggs produced). Another is that it will take a while to have huge effects, during which time mutations might arise that block this mechanism and allow female development. Such a mutation would spread rapidly (it would be highly favored by selection once the population got far off 50-50) so you would be back a square one. Biocontrol of introduced species is notoriously bad, particularly in Australia. See Cane Toads. We are exceptionally bad at foreseeing all of the downstream consequences of such manipulations of the ecosystem. A cool idea, and some great work by the scientists, but lets hope that they think long and hard before releasing these fish into the wild. *do you really think that all those extra male carp will ignore the chance for some kinky inter-species romance? It just takes one...
Most exciting phrase in science: not "Eureka!" but "Hmm... That's funny..." -Asimov (abridged for \. limits)
Ok. Australia is an island last time I checked. The carp would have to be transported outside of Australia to allow this gene to propogate. Carp are fresh water fish. They die in salt water. Interspecies gene transfer from a fresh water fish to a salt water fish, to the same fresh water species somewhere else is a large stretch of the imagination.
RE: sharks. You seem to be missing the fact that sharks are mostly salt water creatures and you would have to breed fresh water sharks that have a taste for carp.
Fact: by reducing the viable reproductive population of females, a population will crash as the female die out. You need females to grow a population, not males. Still, it would take many years for the carp populations to die out. Carp live for a long time.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
My father taught me this when I was little:
1)Clean and wash carp.
2)Tie carp to good quality oak or maple board using fine Stainless leader wire.
(2 carp can be prepared at a time, either side of board)
3)Baste carp constantly, slowly rotating over an open fire (mesquite is good)using a mixture of lemon juice, butter, honey, and a bit of cayenne pepper.
Takes approximatly 4 hours, perhaps longer.
When boards become tender, dicard carp, and eat the board.