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Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Fish and Mollusks

Year Awarded: 2009
Awarded: $75,000
Team Leader:  University of Minnesota
Tel: 218-726-8715
Email: jgunder1@umn.edu

This team’s international symposium assembled scientists from fish genetics and biotechnology to risk assessment science and ecology, and professionals working in various facets of managing aquatic invasive species, to present and discuss the possibilities and risks of biocontrol methods—the release of genetically-manipulated organisms—to remove invasive species. The symposium addressed issues of concern such as cost, genetic “pollution” and unpredictability associated with biocontrol methods. The team’s synthesis papers from the symposium will address technology, environmental risk assessment, regulatory research needs and policy research needs. The accumulation of this information is a necessary step in moving forward with biocontrol options intelligently and cautiously.