Dr Madeline Green1, Mr Alexander Coutts1, Mr Aditya Swami1, Dr Freddie Heather2, Dr Marie Thomas1
1Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Hobart, Australia, 2Pacific Community (SPC), Noumea, New Caledonia
Biography:
Dr Madeline Green is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, where she leads the Forensic Fisheries Lab. Her research develops molecular monitoring and wildlife forensic tools to improve fisheries management, seafood traceability, and marine conservation. Her work spans fisheries genetics, molecular ecology, conservation genomics, and wildlife forensics, with applications ranging from commercial fisheries and fisheries compliance to shark and ray conservation, population connectivity, and conservation breeding programs. Madeline works closely with governments, industry, and international organisations to translate emerging genetic technologies into practical tools that support sustainable fisheries and evidence-based management.
Abstract:
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is increasingly being explored as a molecular monitoring tool for commercial fisheries. Building on its success in biodiversity monitoring, eDNA collected on fishing vessels has the potential to characterise catch composition, complement conventional observer programs, and improve monitoring in fisheries with limited observer coverage. As these approaches move towards operational implementation, there is an increasing need for standardised analytical frameworks that define when a molecular detection can be confidently interpreted as evidence of species presence in the catch.
Building on the longline fisheries work of Green et al. (2024), we present recent advances in molecular monitoring for commercial fisheries. Using long-read Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing, we have validated workflows targeting commercially important species, with a particular focus on tunas. (Thunnus sp.) We achieve robust species identification of tunas via metabarcoding of the complete mitochondrial control region, supported by a carefully curated reference database developed in accordance with wildlife forensic standards.
Rather than focusing solely on species detection, this presentation explores the broader analytical framework required for operational molecular monitoring. We describe the minimum standards being developed across sample collection, laboratory workflows, bioinformatic analyses, reference database curation, and result reporting. Central to this framework is a statistical model that leverages prior validated detections to estimate the probability of species presence, allowing results to incorporate detection uncertainty.
Together, these approaches provide an end-to-end workflow that improves the transparency, repeatability, and defensibility of molecular monitoring results.
This work demonstrates the progression of fisheries eDNA from proof-of-concept detection towards a standardised evidence framework capable of supporting fisheries management, compliance, and future monitoring programs.