Frankenfish ??
 For some time there has been a scientific experiment going on which in essence makes Pacific Chinook grow at a VERY increased rate. This has apparently been done for the food industry and has created a furor among  those opposed to genetically engineered food sources.
    The growth rate is tremendous and proponents claim it will have nothing to do with meat quality however the opponents are already lined up and have had a few American commercial outlets join them.
 Claims are that there would be precautions taken to avoid these commercial fish from getting into the wild - we have seen that before with the Snakehead lol.
     Also there seems to be kinda an -everywhere but America- philosophy because of our cumbersome FDA regulatory process and the already lined up anti movement.
  Actually we live in an era where much of our food- both meat and vegetable- has been altered over time by science -largely with no great notice by consumers.
 
 OK- my take- Our food isn't like is was - its generally healthier and better than  long ago- altered - likely- but with nutritional benefits= at any rate its on the shelves and we are eating it right now.
  My greatest concern is that of the - getting into the wild- part of the project. No matter how they try and control it (IMHO) by accident or  design they will eventually get into the wild. No mention  about sterility in these fish however the concern by itself makes me think they can breed. 
  I'm not necessarily opposed or in support of the wild part----
       Fire away----

they are researching two different methods to give that increased growth.
one is a triploid genome, meaning instead of 2 sets of genes, ex XY for a male or XX for a female they are doing XXY and XXX, these being sterile spend all of their energy on growth rather than reproduction
the other is using spliced genes, usually one from the salmon species with a growth section from another species spliced into the genome
both produce very large, fast growing fish
 
the concern is about them escaping and breeding as well as transferring disease into wild stocks
both are legit concerns.  salmon farms in the near shore areas of canada have had accidental releases and disease issues
 
you are right that our food today is dependent on genetically modified crops, just about everything we eat has been "designed" to give maximum production for the given conditions where they are grown (be they plant or animal), but the idea of taking a section of genes from one species and transferring it into another gives people a sci fi creep out

Agree Bear - things are changing in our world more frequently than we often know. Heck even the fish we appreciate in the Sr and elsewhere are often non native crossbreeds designed to reproduce and grow in a specific environment purely for economic gain..We even hope for positive results with Skams and Atlantics in this regard. One may think we are attuned to modern tweaking of nature and accept it to a degree.
 In regard to the fast growing Salmon referred to here I recall a news piece a year or two back showing and describing the efforts to produce them  (as I recall) someplace in South America. Huge effort was being made to keep the fish isolated during the experiment. Todays news indicated they are about to move on to commercial efforts.
  Kinda seemed the only reason the US was outa the picture was because of the already growing Anti movement by enviros and the pressure they are bringing on shopping chains even before the fish are available  commercially- as well as the long FDA process that would also be affected by the movement.
 At any rate I believe that- like the Snakehead and grass eating carp- once they are 'out there someplace'-they will eventually be in the wild.

oh yea, invasive species are thriving world wide....
humm a 60 pound salmon in the river.....since they are all (except atlantics) introduced anyway...
i heard of work on a modified atlantic strain as well

On the bright side perhaps the meat will be good- cant be much worse than the Chinooks we have now   LOL
  Wont be in my lifetime anyhoo- am  hoping for some more  Skams or Atlantics though.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/09/genetically-modified-salmon-fda.html
http://www.katu.com/news/problemsolver/Genetically-engineered-salmon-186357232.html
 
Yea I read about that last year.  Splicing DNA from an Eel like fish to the salmon.