Subsídios para a conservação de vertebrados marinhos: identificação molecular e monitoramento do comércio online

Abstract

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) there is currently 12,221 endangered species and another 11,029 vulnerable species, globally. Some of these species are highly valuable. Whale meet, elephant ivory, rhino horn, sawfish rostrum, and shark fin are examples of illegally traded items. The fact that these trades are based on animal parts makes difficult the monitoring of species involved. This is because animal parts lack most of diagnostic characters that may permit species identification. In the case of highly valuable frozen fish fillet, as for example the one from the Caribbean Snapper, this lack of diagnostic characters permits a substitution fraud. In this kind of fraud, a low valuable species is trade under the name of a highly valuable species. Moreover, this trade does not only occur in marketplaces or so. It also occurs through virtual or online trade. Given this threatening situation, the development of research on identification of animal parts and trade monitoring are needed. In this context, the goal of the present study was to provide new tools against illegal trade of endangered marine vertebrates, with emphasis on cetaceans, snappers and the batoids known as sawfish. The present study presents mitochondrial DNA Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) DNA sequences useful for identification of seven cetacean species from the West Atlantic (Canada and Brazil). In addition, prospective Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polimorphism (PCR-RFLP) molecular markers are also described for identification of the Caribbean Red Snapper (Lutjanus purpureus) from northern and northeastern Brazil. About the sawfish, here it is described the current status of an ongoing online trade of isolated rostra. Based on roughly one year of monitoring and 402 isolated rostra recorded, it was found that sawfish rostra involved in this kind of trade cost US$ 676.80 a piece, in average. The trade website eBay is responsible for most of the sawfish rostra that is illegally available for international delivery. Keywords: endangered species, illegal trade, conservation, cetacean, Red snapper, sawfish