Seafood Fraud Study at Harbor High School – Santa Cruz-Monterey Bay Area Subunit of the American Fisheries Society

Program title: Seafood Fraud Study at Harbor High School

Overview: SCMBAS outreach committee chair, Hayley Nuetzel, coordinated with teachers at Harbor High School to implement a student-led seafood fraud study. Students sampled various seafood species from venues throughout the county and performed DNA barcoding to quantify rates of mislabeling in our local marketplace. This study has taken place for two years, starting in 2016, and we hope to continue the investigation!

Current program leader/contact: Hayley Nuetzel

Collaborators/partners: Harbor High School

Upcoming events: TBD; the project typically takes place throughout the month of May.

History:

2016: Funded by Western Division Small Grants Opportunity. In addition to the seafood fraud study, we also hosted several in-class activities including fish dissections and an interactive exploration of the “tragedy of the commons” in fisheries.
2017: Funded by CalNeva Grant. Focused solely on the seafood fraud study, with the goal being to increase the variety of venues sampled.