AUSTRALIA’S Murray-Darling River, the longest on the continent, is in trouble, dying under the combined pressures of mismanagement, thirsty irrigation systems and, last but not least, invading species such as the European carp. So an ambitious new plan to get rid of the foreign interlopers should be a cause for celebration, as long as it’s well thought through. And there’s the rub…
The plan is to insert a gene called daughterless into male carp that will ensure that their offspring are male. When released into rivers, it should send the wild carp populations into a nosedive, hopefully making room once…
