Bioengineered salmon will not come from the largest agricultural state in the United States

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Genetically modified salmon will move to store shelves in the United States, but it will not come from the country's largest salmon state.

AquaBounty Technologies, based in Mbadachusetts, says that US supermarkets could start selling the much-debated fish by the end of next year. Its fish are modified to grow about twice as fast as conventional salmon.

The company is changing the Atlantic salmon. The species constitutes the backbone of the global salmon farming industry. Maine is the largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon in the United States. It sometimes produces more than 15 million pounds of fish a year and the industry is about to grow. But the Maine Aquaculture Association says that state fish farmers do not plan to use genetically modified fish.

Genetically modified salmon from AquaBounty are also approved for sale in Canada.