Climate Change Makes Figuring Out Fish Genetics Critical

Fish farming, or aquaculture, has grown enormously in recent years, representing a US$70.3 billion market in 2004 alone. Farmed fish are increasingly being consumed as wild fish stocks decline from overfishing, pollution and the effects of climate change.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization this week is hosting a meeting on preserving the world's genetic resources, a topic which to date has focused on crops and livestock. This year the agency is focusing on fish, and is urging governments to better conserve the world's fish genes since genetic diversity is critical for breeding.

"10,000 years ago, we started domesticating crops, and 6,000 years ago animals,'' noted Devin Bartley, senior fisheries resources officer at the Rome-based agency.

"With fish, we've only had the ability to breed them in hatcheries since the late 1950s or 60s. So we're just now starting that process of domestication and genetic improvement" that can lead to production growths of up to 20 percent, he said.

But in order to breed better, meatier fish, scientists need more information about their genetic makeup _ and that information is spotty at best, according to a FAO study. FAO is hoping governments devote more money and attention to change that.

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