Although more than 450,000 fluorescent rice fish are sold every year with help from the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) promotional efforts over the past seven years, it’s still not clear whether the new fish species could cause ecological damage, because there are no field test agencies that can perform environmental impact assessments on them as required by law.
Fluorescent fish are a new species of fish that was developed in Taiwan in 2001 through genetic techniques and has since become popular worldwide, earning it recognition as one of “the coolest inventions” in 2003.
However, the new species had not been assessed for its environmental impact as required by the Fisheries Act (漁業法) before the COA began to promote fluorescent fish.
The Fisheries Agency said the field test clause was amended in 2002, but relevant regulations were not adopted until last year and the first field test agency won’t be established until next year.
Since there was no field test, there is no proof that the fish has a negative environmental impact. Therefore, sales of fluorescent fish may not be prohibited, the Fisheries Agency said.
However, academics said taking more than seven years to establish the first field test agency was too long, adding that damage may have been done because people have released the new fish species into the wild.
According to estimates by Taikong Corp, a company that sells fluorescent fish, as many as 450,000 fluorescent fish are sold each year. Taikong’s executive research director, Lin Hsueh-lian (林學廉), said it would send the fish for field tests as soon as the government sets up a field test agency. He said, however, that without field test certificates, the company finds it difficult to export the fish, which it has invested a great deal of money into.
Researchers remain divided on whether fluorescent fish threaten the ecosystem.
Professor Tsai Huai-jen (蔡懷楨) of National Taiwan University’s (NTU) Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology said fluorescent fish are like “flowers in a greenhouse” — they only get eaten by other fish, but do not eat other fish.
However, researcher Tu Yu (杜宇) said the consequences would be unimaginable if fluorescent fish were to enter the ecosystem and mix with other species.
NTU’s Graduate Institute of National Development professor Chou Kuei-tien (周桂田), who specializes in genetic engineering policy studies, criticized the Fisheries Agency for its slow action in creating a field test agency.
A genetically engineered species is like a foreign species, Chou said. Its threats are not visible in the short-term. However, over the long-term, it could lead to an ecological disaster.
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