Policing environmental compliance at salmon farms could become cheaper and faster thanks to a new test using bacterial DNA. Cawthron Institute began studying "environmental DNA" left behind by marine organisms as an alternative solution in 2014, after it secured funding from industry, government and community heavyweights. Mucus, sperm, eggs, full or partial body parts, and bacteria were all forms of environmental DNA, but bacteria had the strongest relationship with seabed enrichment, Pochon said. This included samples from two Queen Charlotte Sound farms, two Tory Channel farms and two Pelorus Sound farms. If approved, Pochon suggested the council adopt a transition period where both the traditional monitoring method and new bacterial DNA method could be "analysed in parallel".

Source: Stuff February 11, 2020 00:45 UTC