Abstract

A collaborative pilot project is underway between NOAA Fisheries, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Government of Ecuador to train Ecuadorian officials in genetic techniques to identify sharks incidentally landed and traded from Ecuador that are included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II. Collectively, 30 government officials from Ecuador’s Vice-ministry of Aquaculture and Fisheries and Ministry of Environment have received training on species-specific genetic identification techniques over the course of two workshops. The hands-on training has been provided to Ecuador to help increase the country's capacity to monitor shark products in fisheries and trade and to ensure compliance with requirements under CITES. Furthermore, these trainings along with the provision of the necessary equipment have laid the foundation for Ecuador to improve their National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks by implementing new science and policy objectives to identify shark export subproducts to species level, insert an additional step in the shark product export process, and provide an important tool for continuous monitoring of shark landings. Improving the capacity of Ecuador to detect CITES Appendix II species bound for international markets can greatly aid in trade-monitoring and enforcement efforts to successfully implement CITES shark listings and serve as a model that can be replicated in the region to improve the conservation and management of global shark populations

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