Dal's Paul Bentzen and colleagues have developed a publically available DNA database to identify all fish commonly encountered in the ocean off Atlantic Canada. This database could impact ocean conservation, species tracking and seafood fraud.
Bentzen and colleagues used a cataloguing process called "DNA barcoding". Canada has led the world in this area. Dr. Bentzen's work is part of a larger effort to catalogue all species. Anyone can access the database at http://www.barcodinglife.com/. The database could help with species tracking and conservation, as it will make illegally landed fish easier to identify. Research suggests that certain people have, and continue to, illegally land and keep high-value species.
In addition, the catalogue could help combat seafood fraud by making identifying fraud more accessible. Currently, consumers are not always receiving what they order from a menu or read on a food label. Research shows that low-value species are sometimes substituted for high-value ones.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Dalhousie University / Phys.org
