QINGDAO – Scientists gathered recently in Qingdao, China on December 1, 2016, aiming to boost national and regional capacity for species identification, with the genetic method called “DNA Barcoding”.

This gathering marked the inception of the 2nd phase of the WESTPAC implemented DRMREEF-II project entitled “Enhance the Capacity for Species Identification and Genetic Analysis on Marine Organisms in the Coral Reef Ecosystems in the Western Pacific”.

In attendance at the workshop were seven institutes from six countries involved this project: Indonesian Institute of Science (Indonesia), Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia), Mindanao State University (Philippines), Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (Republic of Korea), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Phuket Marine Biological Center (Thailand), and Institute of Oceanography (Vietnam).

With intensive and extensive discussions, an action plan was agreed upon for the second phase with enhanced efforts in integrating capacity building into research. A series of trainings will be organized at both regional and national level. The regional one will be conducted at the IOC Regional Training and Research Center on Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health (RTRC-MarBEST) in 2017, and trainings at the national level will be initially organized at this phase at the WESTPAC Ocean Acidification pilot sites, respectively in Thailand and Vietnam in late 2017 and early 2018 in order to monitor the ecological impact of ocean acidification on coral reefs. The training will include the hands-on exercises on sample collection, DNA extraction, data analysis with data to be inputted to the national inventories of marine organisms living in the coral reef ecosystem and a pilot WESTPAC Biodiversity Portal Site.

Source: http://iocwestpac.org/