THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9606290367
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 88 lines
Buyers of shrink-wrapped supermarket fish fillets have more in common with avid environmentalists than they might realize.
So says Virginia Institute of Marine Science associate professor John E. Graves, who has submitted a $100,000 grant proposal to the National Marine Fisheries Service to develop an inexpensive dockside kit that could prevent the illegal harvest of endangered bluefin tuna.
Graves says that if the project is funded, eventually the kits could be used to identify other fish species, including common varieties found on store shelves.
At first, commercial fish buyers and federal inspectors would be the primary customers for the device, which would include a small plastic container, an eyestopper and chemically reactive liquids. A small bit of fish flesh, mashed and put in solution, would change color if it were the targeted species.
Graves says the procedure could also lead to federally sanctioned seals of approval for fish similar to those that now appear on beef and chicken. If commercialized, the kit may one day be available to consumers for as little as $5.
``For a consumer looking at a fillet sitting on the ice in a supermarket, you're relying on somebody else's identification,'' he said. ``Consumers want to know what they're getting. There's always been some question as to what a product was. It's very easy to misidentify.''
Graves is one of the world's foremost experts in genetic testing of fish, and has conducted a number of fish DNA studies. His studies use the same basic techniques as those made famous at the O.J. Simpson trial.
In the Simpson trial, the presence or absence of certain unique genetic markers, resembling the bar codes found on merchandise in stores, were used by the prosecution and the defense to make their separate cases.
Graves' proposed dockside kit would use different techniques but produce the same kind of result.
Graves' research, and that of a handful of other scientists from around the country, comes at a time of worldwide crisis for fish species. Many are in serious decline. Federal and state regulation and harvest restrictions are on the rise.
``What it comes down to is the type of regulation our citizens are saddled with,'' said Jack Travelstead, chief of fisheries management for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. ``(Misidentification) isn't a huge problem - yet. But it could be in the future as you begin to regulate more species.''
The United Nations estimates that 13 of 17 major ocean fisheries are in jeopardy, mostly because of overfishing. Scientists warn that 40 percent of U.S. fisheries are being harvested at biologically dangerous levels, and another 43 percent could be threatened.
In 1994, landings of haddock, another traditional mainstay fish, dropped 363 percent to just 724,000 pounds - the lowest amount landed since federal record-keeping began in 1879, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Fish stocks historically have fluctuated like the tides. To overcome this ebb-and-flow, scientists have said that the government should set long-range plans that keep fishing pressure at a relatively constant level.
Genetic testing could assume major importance for planners, as they attempt to figure out how fish populations develop, decline and then rebound.
Graves recently submitted a proposal to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission for a two-year project to collect 20 individual fish in each of 15 species common to the Chesapeake Bay. The fish will be genetically analyzed and coded, with the results entered into a computerized database.
The goal, Graves said, is to give managers and law enforcers a new tool to monitor and police the recreational fishery.
``When John Graves tells you something, you can take it to the bank,'' said Robert W. Chapman, an associate research scientist at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. ``He's very precise. He never overinterprets his information.''
According to Graves, it's bluefin tuna that could suffer the most unless a quick dockside testing procedure is devised. Bluefin can be genetically analyzed like any other species, but that procedure must be done in a well-equipped laboratory, likely miles away from where the fish is brought to shore for inspection.
Unscrupulous fishermen, lured by the prospect of up to $20,000 per bluefin on overseas fish markets, sometimes land the fish in U.S. waters, claiming it is the closely related, but unendangered bigeye tuna. Detection is avoided by skinning and filleting the fish on board the catch boat.
Immediate on-shore testing would weed out the scam artists, Graves argues.
``By eliminating uncertainty, all the honest people will be protected,'' he said. ``It's a win-win situation for everybody. Except the crooks.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia Institute of Marine Science associate professor John E.
Graves. by CNB