Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SNAPTRACE (Fishing in the dark: unravelling the global trade and traceability of the ‘snappers’)
Reporting period: 2016-07-04 to 2018-07-03
By DNA barcoding 300 ‘snapper’ products from six countries, we found 67 species from 16 families masquerading under this umbrella term, deriving from numerous disparately-managed fisheries and with different traceability and conservation concerns. Over half of the identified species were reef-dwelling species, which are likely threatened by overfishing, habitat loss and insufficient protection. At least 40% of samples were mislabelled, with common substitutes being seabreams, rockfishes, threadfin breams, fusiliers and tilapia. Despite following the EU’s highly stringent seafood labelling and traceability regulations, samples from the UK were linked with the highest misrepresentation rates, species diversity, number of potential origins and risks of arising from poorly-managed fisheries.
Two full manuscripts, one correspondence article and one conference abstract were published in leading open-access journals with direct links to SNAPTRACE. The results were also orally presented at three international symposia and four invited guest lectures. We capitalised on our strategic alignment with key global NGOs and academic collaborators to ensure that the project outcomes were channelled to relevant managers and regulators to catalyse timely policy and enforcement interventions. We also actively participated in media-related communication and public outreach throughout the project, mainly via press releases, social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, ResearchGate), blogposts, interviews and short films.