Facility manager Pablo Bernal explains different aspects of the growing tanks for salmon at the AquaBounty Technologies facility in Albany. AquaBounty bought the Albany facility, originally built to raise yellow perch, last year for $14.2 million. (Photo: Corey Ohlenkamp/Star Press)
ALBANY — Fresh water is circulating through 68,684-gallon indoor tanks.
Containment barriers are in place to prevent an escape.
Facilitiy manager Pablo Bernal and other veteran Chilean fish farmers are on the job.
Birds and dragonflies swoop and dart above wastewater treatment lagoons full of turtles.
Security guards are on patrol; surveillance cameras are operating, and a chain-link fence topped with strands of barbed wire runs along the perimeter of the complex.
Everything's virtually ready to start producing the world's first approved genetically engineered (GE) food-use animal, an Atlantic salmon trademarked as AquAdvantage Salmon. Its advantage is it reaches market size (about 5 kilograms, or 11 pounds) almost twice as fast as non-engineered Atlantic salmon.
The field has grown enormously, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, since the first GE animal, a rabbit, was produced in the 1980s. Other GE animals being developed include biopharm animals to produce substances like human insulin; hypoallergenic pets; and pigs containing healthy omega-3 fatty acids at levels comparable to fish.
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