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Marine Forensics

The NOS Marine Forensics Program analyzes evidence for NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Law Enforcement.

Our work supports enforcement of the Nation’s environmental laws, including the:

  • Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act: This law establishes a framework of Fishery Management Councils which are responsible for the management of marine fisheries in US federal waters, most notably to rebuild depleted fisheries and end overfishing. Regulations ultimately resulting from these councils are enforced by NOAA via civil or criminal proceedings.
  • Endangered Species Act: The most well-known wildlife protection law, the ESA is designed to protect animal and plant species that are in danger of extinction, and conserve the ecosystems upon which they depend.
  • Marine Mammal Protection Act: This act prohibits taking marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas, and the importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S.
  • Lacey Act: The country’s oldest wildlife protection law, it provides civil and criminal penalties for violations trafficking in illegally taken of plants and wildlife

For more information on all of the laws enforced by NOAA, please visit protected species laws & policies.

Contact the marine forensics staff with any other related questions.

Questions we are asked to resolve include:

  • What species a sample is
  • The minimum number of individuals represented in a group of samples
  • The cause of death related to human and/or fishery interactions
  • Whether a fish is wild or farm-raised
NOS

In the News

analyzing samples

Capabilities

Our analysts are trained in genetics, chemistry, and morphology, and can perform a variety of analyses to answer questions of species identity, the minimum number of individuals represented by several fillets, whether a fish was farm-raised or wild-caught, and more. [More]

data collection

Cases

Approximately half of our cases involve criminal violations, and the other half are civil. Many cases, both civil and criminal, plead out before going to trial, saving the government and the defendant time and money in lengthy prosecutions. View some examples of large criminal and civil cases for which we processed the evidence. [More]

forms

Forms

This page contains downloadable sampling protocols and forms for chain-of-custody, evidence submission, and collection of voucher samples. [More]

NOAA photo credit: dolphin

History

In the 1970's, a suite of landmark environmental legislation was passed: The Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Magnuson Act. In the wake of this environmental legislation, it became necessary to identify meats that were suspected of being from prohibited species, but had already been filleted for the table. The scientists in what was then the NOAA Fisheries' Charleston, SC laboratory responded to the needs of the Office for Law Enforcement by collaborating with scientist at the NOAA Fisheries Gloucester, MA lab to develop species identification techniques. This early collaboration resulted in what would eventually become the NOS CCEHBR Marine Forensics Program. [More]

shark

FAQ

Want to know more? Check out our list of frequently-asked questions [More]