Communication Module – Week 5

29 & 30 March 2010 - Powerful Presentation Skills

Trainers: Mr Najmi and Miss Amira

Once again we had Mr Najmi and Miss Amira as our trainers. The first task he asked to discuss was the statement 'TIME IS MONEY' by applying creative thinking and presentation techniques that we had learned previously. We are not able to say whether time is money or not. Some people will always believe that time is only money but nothing else; others will defend the opposite stand. As far as I concerned, all of us should realize that the material around us makes time money. Although I do not want to agree with this statement, I confess all of us should be realistic. No one can lead normal life without enough money. People constantly work in order to earn. And they need TIME. It is mainly MONEY for them.

31 March and 1 April 2010 - Presentation

Trainers: Mr Hisham and Miss Amira 

We had an individual presentation today. We need to ensure proper time management, material use, voice quality, content and closure of the presentation. After presentation, Mr Hisham gave his feedback on our presentation. Following is my script for the presentation:

     Assalamualaikum and good day to everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to share with all of you about 'The Environmental Impacts of Transgenic Fish on Aquaculture'. I am going to take 6 minutes of your time and will leave 2 minutes for Q&A session at the end of my presentation. Aquaculture emerged several thousand years ago. With the increase in human populations and coinciding reduction in more accessible fish supplies, it became difficult for people to rely solely on wild-caught fish. Therefore, to increase the supply of fish, communities would take steps such as trapping fish in shallow or dammed areas and creating favorable fish habitats by excluding predators. Advances in development and research of genetic expression and structure have enabled scientists to produce novel gene structures that may be transferred into organisms. Organisms developed from these genes and their offspring containing these genes are referred to as transgenic. Today, most of the aquaculture biotechnology research has focused on production of transgenic fish in order to achieve high growth rates, improve resistance to diseases, improve resistance to a cold environment, and develop other beneficial impacts.

    The potential environmental risks of transgenic fish farms do not vary in kind from those of conventional fish farms. However, adding novel genetic traits not present in nature raises the concern that transgenic fish might occupy the ecological niche and become dominant species if they escape or if there is intentional release into the natural ecosystem. In that circumstance, they would be more likely to affect wild populations by interbreeding. Hence, I would like to concentrates on potential environmental risks to aquaculture, using the case of transgenic fish, and highlights the consequences of the risks on the environment.

     The greatest concern raised about transgenic fish is the risk of escape or unintentional release of that organism to the natural environment. Fish cages have a high risk of escape due to cage damage from predators and bad weather. Evidence shows that escapees eventually enter rivers to breed. This may cause the novel genes in the transgenic fish to be established in the genes of the wild fish population, a phenomenon known as gene flow. Gene flow between transgenic fish and wild fish can diminish the heterogeneity of the wild fish population and lead to loss of biodiversity. 

     Another essential concern related to the escape of transgenic fish is their potential to become invasive species. The invasive species phenomenon is also known as widespread of exotic species or non-indigenous species that negatively affect the habitats they invade ecologically or environmentally. Invasion of any exotic species in aquatic environments including both transgenic and non-transgenic, has raised concerns about potential environmental risks. However, transgenic fish might incur more adverse impacts than non-transgenic fish as they interact differently with other wild fish. As a consequence, establishment of invasive transgenic species is a threat to wild fish populations in the natural environment.

     An additional environmental concern with respect to transgenic fish is their capability to introduce and spread toxins and diseases to wild species. This is a general concern with aquaculture: several types of diseases and toxins have appeared from aquaculture operations. Therefore, aquaculture is a source of toxins and parasites accumulation because transmission can flow back to the wild populations and can amplify the amount of those diseases already present. Transgenic fish, which are engineered for disease resistance, would potentially enhance the risk of becoming vectors for transferring toxins or diseases to wild populations through direct contact and indirect contact by releasing of their faeces or contaminated rearing water.

      Transgenic fish pose many environmental risks and assessing the risks is complex because multiple outcomes are possible for any transgene. It will be hard to verify the research results without a real transgenic fish escape incident. The effects could be irreversible and could negatively affect biodiversity. In addition, the impact of invasion of transgenic fish depends on capability to compete for scarce sources including habitat, foods, mates, and ability to tolerate with the environmental conditions. It is predicted that transgenic fish might cause loss of biodiversity, and invade and dominate the wild fish populations, thus disrupting ecosystem equilibrium. In addition, transgenic fish aquaculture might introduce novel diseases or toxins and cause water pollution as well due to the high organic waste released. Since most of the risks are unverifiable from a theoretical point of view, in-depth further research to properly evaluate the risks is necessary.

Thank you for reading.