Argos_waits wrote:
> 
> 
>>"A stress tolerant strain of fish is highly desirable for
aquaculture"
>>says Dr. Winberg "However, the problem is that stress tolerant fish
>>are often also the most aggressive." Dr. Winberg's group is part of
>>an EU funded collaborative project involving scientists around Europe
>>(The STRESSGENES project, coordinated by Dr. Patrick Prunet, INRA,
>>France)5, which aims to identify candidate genes in fish associated
>>with resistance to stressful conditions. Scientists hope that a better
>>understanding of the biological mechanisms behind stress tolerance may
>>inform new selection strategies and lead to practical benefits for
>>aquaculture.
>>
>>
> 
> Surely this is the wrong way to go.  What is the impact of the
> inevitable escape of these fish into the natural fish population?

They might spend all their time trying to beat up a pike.  :-)

> Perhaps a more logical approach would be to produce a less agressive
> fish (a "friendly fish) instead of a "stess-tolerant" one. 

That would lower yield, which is the opposite of what is intended.

Also
> potentially dangerous to the natural gene pool-but perhaps a less
> agressive fish wouldn't be very successful in the wild?
> 
It would depend.  No doubt there are plusses and minuses to all levels 
of aggression.  But if a less aggressive fish would be more successful 
in the wild, then one would expect such a fish to have evolved already.

Bob

-- 
Bob O'Hara
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
P.O. Box 68 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2b)
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland

Telephone: +358-9-191 51479
Mobile: +358 50 599 0540
Fax:  +358-9-191 51400
WWW:  http://www.RNI.Helsinki.FI/~boh/
Journal of Negative Results - EEB: www.jnr-eeb.org
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