A collaborative pilot project is ongoing between the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and the Government of Ecuador to train Ecuadorian officials in standard genetic techniques used to process and identify shark products in trade. This hands-on training has been provided to the Government of Ecuador through a series of workshops, which were organized by World Wildlife Fund-Ecuador, with grant funds from the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection to help increase the country's capacity to monitor shark products in trade and to ensure compliance with requirements under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Collectively, 30 government officials have received training on species-specific genetic identification techniques over the course of the two workshops. The trainings have laid the groundwork for the development of outreach materials, including scientific reports, to help explain the use and effectiveness of these techniques under this pilot project.
