Engineering endangered fish

While talking about fish, I recall reading this article a while back http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2007/09/14/engineered_fish_may_provide_key_to_species_conservation/. The whole idea of ‘manufacturing’ one species from another species sounds like ‘mad science’ to me.

I am not sure about the intentions behind this research. If the objective is to improve our knowledge on genetics, that is totally valid. However, the researcher indicated that this ‘engineering’ is to help conservation, this idea frightens me.

I believe that conservation is to reduce our impacts and preserve the remaining species and habitats we still have. To prevent species from extinction, we should protect them and their habitats. Hopefully by protecting species, we are preserving a better ecosystem for us and future generations.

If we can really engineer endangered species from the lab, does that science qualify as conservation? Is there still a need for the old school conservation effort? Are those engineered species considered as the same species? Are we going to have a formula for manufacturing the Spotted Owls, the Jaguar, etc.? How will this ‘breakthrough’ change humanity and morality? How much God are we playing? When should we stop??

In our discussion, the objective of science policy is to apply science in achieving more societal benefits. For me, this research provided little to no societal benefit, or may even cause harm to conservation effort. Without a clear agenda on how to protect endangered species, scientists may think they are doing great work by manipulating genes in the lab. Nonetheless, they forget the whole picture about the purpose of conservation, our obligation to other species and what true human well-being is.