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In an age of biotechnological juicing, not even the easygoing pastime of fishing is free from controversies over artificial enhancement.

On September 5, Saskatchewan fisherman Sean Konrad caught a 48-pound, world-record rainbow trout. The fish came from Lake Diefenbaker, where trout genetically engineered to grow extra-big escaped from a fish farm nine years ago.

The previous world record was held by Sean’s twin brother Adam, who pulled a 43-pound, 10-ounce rainbow trout from Lake Diefenbaker in 2007. That catch sparked online debate over the legitimacy of Lake Diefenbaker’s farm-born, genetically-engineered rainbows. Technically known as triploids, they’re designed with three sets of chromosomes, making them sterile and channeling energies normally spent reproducing towards growth.

In 2007, on a message board of the International Game Fish Association, the angling world’s record- and ethics-keeping body, some fishermen argued that triploids were unnatural, as divorced from the sport’s history as Barry Bonds’ home runs were from Hank Aaron’s.

The IGFA refused to make a distinction between natural and GM fish. Neither would they distinguish between species caught in their traditional waters and those introduced into new, growth-friendly environments, such as largemouth bass whose extra-large ancestors were imported from Florida to California in the 1960s.

But to purists, there was a difference between transplantation and outright manufacture.

The Konrad brothers’ response on the message board was curt: “Stop crying and start fishing.”

Now they’ve caught another record-breaking trout. Or have they?

Record brown trout caught in Manistee

Definitely a state record, could be a world record

LDN Staff -

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Ludington Daily News has learned that what appears to be a new world record brown trout was caught in the Manistee River this morning.

Grand Rapids area resident Tom Healy caught the 41-pound, 7.25 ounce monster on a crankbait while fishing with Tim Roller’s charter service. Michigan DNR fisheries biologists Mark Tonello and Todd Kalish weighed the fish after leveling the certified scales and determined the weight. It is the new record hold for Michigan. Upon the second weighing with the scales leveled, the weight was determined to be 1 pound, .75 ounces heavier than originally determined. The fish was 43.75 inches long.

The fish is 1 pound, 3.25 ounces heavier than the reigning world record German brown trout, a 40-pound, 4-ounce fish caught in Arkansas in 1992 by Howard “Rip” Collins who used an ultralight rod and 4-pound test line to catch that fish. Healy will have to apply for certification to be declared the world record holder.

The state record German brown trout until today weighed 36.81 pounds and was caught in Lake Michigan in Benzie County in 2007. The next three places in the state record books were held by Lake Michigan browns caught in Manistee.

June 8 is the World Oceans Day, a day to honor our oceans and all they have given us, and to raise awareness for the current plight of our oceans and those that live there. Our oceans are facing issues from global warming to pollution, and the truth is that we cannot survive on this planet without everything the oceans give us.

“The End of the Line” is a documentary about the issues of overfishing that was released in theaters today. This film, hailed by “The Economist” as “The Inconvenient Truth about the oceans,” shows the appalling overfishing that is currently happening in our oceans and will make you think twice about what you order the next time you head out for seafood. Visit the film’s website for more information on tickets or the campaign to prevent overfishing.

Global warming is considered the biggest threat to the oceans (overfishing is number two), with wide ranging impacts from the warming of the oceans, creating inhospitable conditions for fragile ecosystems including coral reefs, to ocean acidification. Thus the more we do to prevent climate change, the better the oceans will be protected.

Greenpeace has a plan to protect 40 percent of the earth’s oceans as marine reserves. This plan would help to protect the oceans against overfishing and pollution and would allow our marine ecosystems a chance to recover. You can sign the petition or learn more about the plan at the Greenpeace campaign page.