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CoML in the News
Census Aids Students' Investigation of Mislabeled Fish  Census Aids Students' Investigation of Mislabeled Fish
Two New York City high school friends, curious about new DNA barcoding technology, discovered that fish at local stores and restaurants are commonly mislabeled and sold for far more than regular market price. Trinity School students Kate Stoeckle and Louisa collected 60 fish samples from 14 stores and restaurants in Upper Manhattan in New York City. The girls sent the samples to Canada's University of Guelph Biodiversity Institute of Ontario to obtain their genetic barcodes. A quarter (14 of 56) of the usable samples were mislabeled - in all cases as higher-priced or more-desirable fish species.
In two cases, DNA barcode tests revealed that filleted fish sold as the popular Red Snapper (caught mostly off the southeast U.S. and in the Caribbean) was instead the endangered Acadian Redfish (which swims in the North Atlantic). The students' report marks the first marketplace application of the four-year-old DNA barcoding technology.
To read the news release: http://phe.rockefeller.edu/mislabeledfish/Mislabelled%20fish.pdf To read media coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Kate%20Stoeckle&st=cse&oref=slogin http://www.pacificfishing.com/news/news2.html.  Ocean Tracking Network Up and Running  The first new line of the Ocean Tracking Network is operational. Between June 10 and June 23, dozens of Atlantic salmon tagged with tiny acoustic transmitters crossed the 22 km line of acoustic receivers, deployed by the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), in the waters off of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Scientists hope that the network will provide some answers to what happens to the declining populations of Atlantic salmon once they reach the ocean. OTN was inspired by the success of the Pacific Shelf Tracking Project (POST), which it will sustain, and Census Senior Scientist Ron O'Dor has dubbed this line "POST East."
TOPP Sea Turtle Team Publishes in PLoS  On July 15, 2008 the TOPP Sea Turtle Team presented an analysis of the largest multi-year satellite tracking data set for leatherback turtles in the Public Library of Science's (PLoS) Biology journal. Their results suggest that the turtles' migrations are shaped by strong ocean currents, which provides a biological rationale for the development of multi-scale conservation strategies that take into account this current-induced, cross-boundary movement and potential fisheries interactions. This work will provide current management programs with directions for future efforts. For more information please visit the PLoS Biology website.Halpin Gives Presentation on Protecting Large Pelagics  Census researcher Dr. Pat Halpin will be giving a presentation as part of the Kathryn Fuller Science for Nature Seminar series on July 10, 2008. As the lead researcher of OBIS SeaMap and a member of the Census of Marine Life Synthesis Group, his presentation will address how new technologies are bolstering management and protection of large marine animals in the open ocean. The Science for Nature Seminar series, a monthly program hosted by the World Wildlife Fund at their Washington D.C. headquarters, aims to bring distinguished researchers together with the conservation community in a forum that encourages the dissemination and discussion of cutting edge conservation science. For more information, please visit the Science for Nature Fund page on the World Wildlife Fund website. | |
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About the Census of Marine Life |
CMarZ researcher Dr. Ahmet Kideys loves his work so much that he jokes that he would be willing to pay for what he sees and experiences. He studies the impact of invasive ctenophores on plankton and other major ecosystem groups in the Black and Caspian Seas.