Status: Completed
Start date: 1 July 2020
Completion date: 16 January 2023
Project code: P01-B-005
Species/Threats: Pest fish
A proposed alternative to gene-drive strategies for controlling invasive vertebrate pests is a novel genetic biocontrol system – which this project sought to develop and assess for efficacy. This alternative, called a ‘self-stocking incompatible male system’, is safer and more controllable.
In this system, genetically modified male and female fish (‘SSIMS males and females’) are released into the wild. When they mate with each other, they can only generate male offspring; and when males mate with wild invasive fish, the offspring are not viable. So even when SSIMS females produce offspring with wild males, they produce (and increase the numbers of) SSIMS males, eventually reducing wild invasive fish numbers.
The objective of this project was: