Report of the Working Group on the Application of Genetics in Fisheries and Mariculture [Halifax, Canada, 18- 20 March, 2002]

WGAGFM Report VI a)We have kept this recommendation, but have added a sentence stressing that all ICES Member Countries should consider risk assessment protocols. VI b)We list here the basic points that any risk assessment should address (as described in, e.g., Hallerman and Kapuscinski, 1995). VI c)We give the recommendation that, if possible, field trials should be undertaken in order to assess a number of points that cannot be immediately assessed by considering the phenotype of the GMO, e.g., behaviour of GMOs relative to non-GMOs, the fitness of GMOs, wild conspecifics and their offspring at various life stages, etc. (this recommendation is taken from the 1997 WGAGFM report).The importance of this recommendation is further stressed by the recent publications by Muir and Howard (1999, 2001) and Hedrick (2001).VII a) This is an important recommendation that we kept from the 1994 "Code of Practice".However, we also find it important to stress that the production of sterile individuals requires non-sterile parents, that many currently used sterilization techniques are not 100 % efficient, and that massive releases of sterile organisms may nevertheless have, at least, a short-term negative ecological impact on wild conspecifics and the ecosystem as a whole (also recommendations from the 1997 WGAGFM report). VII b)We added this point to stress the importance of monitoring the effects of GMOs after they have been released, i.e., even despite a positive outcome of risk assessment, follow-up monitoring is required.This is due to the fact that negative effects may not be immediately apparent but could occur and accumulate over time (e.g., biological invasions after the GMOs have become established). Definitions.We have found it important to clarify the definition of GMO used by ICES and make sure that the definition is equivalent to other definitions of GMO, for instance, as applied by the EU.We find it important to use a definition of "transgenic" that includes organisms manipulated by genes from their own genome, e.g., salmon, where a number of its growth hormone genes have been isolated and again inserted in its genome.Chromosome manipulated organisms are now clearly not included in this definition.Specific recommendations concerning polyploids were presented in the 1999 WGAGFM report.We also propose a definition of release to be added to the definition list of the ICES Code of Practice.

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