Biotechnology and the sea

Abstract

The application of recent discoveries in genetic engineering to marine plants and animals offers enormous potential for harvesting more food, pharmaceuticals, and industrial compounds from the sea. Using biotechnology's ability to excise and replace genetic material selected for specific functions, such efforts would allow manifold increases in production of substances conventionally reliant on the capture of often rare marine species. This article reviews the status of marine biotechnology with particular attention to its current and prospective uses for medicine, industrial chemicals, pollution control, and aquaculture. It concludes with some observations about the relationship of marine biotechnology to broader economic, legal, and ethical concerns about genetic manipulation.