GMO salmon firm, AquaBounty, applies to sell in Canada

AquaBounty, a company that produces genetically modified salmon eggs at a P.E.I. hatchery, has applied to sell its fish in Canada.

The company's latest financial outlook reveals it's asking for approval from the federal government to sell its fast-growing salmon as food in this country.

The salmon from AquaBounty's genetically modified eggs grow at twice the rate of regular salmon, making them potentially lucrative as farmed fish.

The company has saideggs hatched in P.E.I. would be exported to Panama to be grown into market-size fish

The company now says it would like to sell thosefish in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Chile and China.

In November, Environment Canada approved the commercial production of AquaBounty's genetically modified salmon eggs in Canada, as long as the proper precautions are taken.

But environmental groups are taking the federal government to court over the approval, saying Environment Canada failed to obtain and assess all the information legally required to make a decision under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

At the same time, AquaBounty continues to wait for an answer from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as to whether it will be allowed to sell its salmon as food in that country a request made 19 years ago.