AquaBounty presses ahead with GM salmon investment
AMERICAN land-based salmon farmer AquaBounty is moving closer to scale production of genetically modified (GM) salmon, while recording a small loss on trading in Q3 of this year.
AquaBounty has started harvesting conventional salmon in Indiana as part of the testing process for its land-based Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS), but it plans to use that to lay the groundwork for its “AquAdvantage” GM fish programme. AquAdvantage is based upon a single, specific molecular modification in fish that results in more rapid growth in early development.
The company reported revenue in the third quarter of 2020 at $68,000, as compared to no revenue in the same period of the prior year, and a net loss of $3.6 million.Also in Q3,AquaBounty raised gross proceeds of $31.6 million through an underwritten public offering of 12.65 million shares of common stock at a price of $2.50 per share.
After an exhaustive nationwide search spanning approximately 230 sites, the company identified Mayfield in Graves County, Kentucky as the leading site location for its planned large-scale farm designed for the AquAdvantage salmon (AAS).
Sylvia Wulf, Chief Executive Officer of AquaBounty said:“Given our strong balance sheet, the impending first-ever commercial harvest of AAS and the planned construction of our next farm,AquaBounty is in a better position than ever to drive long-term value for our shareholders and become a major domestic supplier of fresh, sustainable salmon.”
In early November the company hit a setback, however, when a court in California ordered the US Food and Drug Administration to re-examine the environmental risks of allowing genetically modified salmon to be grown in the United States.The FDA had previously determined that the risk of GM salmon escaping from the AquaBounty facilities was very small.