Volume 1
Performance standards for safely conducting research with genetically modified fish and shellfish : supplement to minutes / prepared by U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Advisory Committee, Working Group on Aquatic Biotechnology and Environmental Safety.
- United States. Agricultural Biotechnology Research Advisory Committee. Working Group on Aquatic Biotechnology and Environmental Safety
- Date:
- [1995]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Performance standards for safely conducting research with genetically modified fish and shellfish : supplement to minutes / prepared by U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Advisory Committee, Working Group on Aquatic Biotechnology and Environmental Safety. Source: Wellcome Collection.
43/118 page 31
![Estimation of the magnitude of potential population decline allows design of risk management measures for an acceptable number of accidental escapees, as defined in Flowchart VI.A. When such estimation is not possible, researchers should proceed instead to Flowchart VI.B. which guides design of risk management for no/negligible escapes. The concept of no/ negligible escapes is further explained below in the introduction section of VI. Risk Management Recommendations: Project Siting, Design, Operations, and Review (Flowcharts VLA & VIB. If there is clear evidence that population abundance is at the high end of the stock-recruit curve where recruitment is density-dependent and reproductive effectiveness is decreased, then it may be possible to build a case that a compensatory response in recruitment will offset any decline in population abundance triggered by reproductive interference. Stock abundance would have to be reduced to a level where the rate of recruitment increase is increasing, but not to a level so low as to risk stock extinction via stochastic processes. Building a scientifically defensible case will not be easy. Researchers are strongly advised to seek substantial input of recognized experts on the population dynamics and ecology of the potentially affected natural populations. V. EFFECTS ON ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE AND PROCESSES This Flowchart guides the most difficult assessments, which demand substantial information about complex and variable ecosystem features. If a researcher is directed to this last Flowchart, it means that prior, easier assessments failed to clearly identify a specific reason for the researcher to EXIT the Standards or to proceed to risk management (see related discussion above under Overview of Performance Standards). Interactions with Threatened, Endangered, or Special Concern Populations The question in this Flowchart focuses on ecological interactions between escaped GMOs and such protected populations. It differs from questions about protected populations posed in earlier Flowcharts which addressed the potential for interbreeding with or reproductive interference by escaped GMOs. These populations are especially vulnerable to extinction risk and, therefore, should be protected from novel interactions with GMOs. This protection is justifiable in light of the dramatic declines of aquatic biodiversity in North America, as explained in greater detail in the discussion of threatened, endangered, or special concern populations under II.A.1. Impact of Deliberate i]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32222105_0001_0043.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
