NOAA’s Very Own CSI Lab

Kathy Moore
Marine Forensics Program
National Ocean Service

January 14, 2009 — You see it all over TV — crime shows where mysteries are solved in the 40 minutes between commercial breaks. Gun-toting technicians chase criminals, gather evidence at the scene, and take it back to their dimly lit lab for analysis on a whiz-bang machine that spits out the answer while they wait with bated breath.  

Everyone knows that there are real crime labs within law enforcement agencies around the world and that the TV drama CSI represents a fictionalized version of what real crime labs do, but did you know that NOAA has its own forensic lab in Charleston, S.C., to catch poachers and illegal traders of marine life?

The National Ocean Service’s Marine Forensics Lab works closely with the NOAA Fisheries’ Office for Law Enforcement. Law enforcement agents turn to the lab when they sense something suspicious about a bloody spear gun and a cooler of red meat on a boat near sea turtle feeding grounds.  Or when a shipping container is full of boxes of frozen fish fillets from Vietnam marked “grouper,” when grouper are not usually imported in appreciable quantities from Southeast Asia. This is where the Marine Forensic Lab comes in.

The Marine Forensics program got its start in the Charleston Fisheries laboratory in the late 1970s. That decade had witnessed the passage of landmark fisheries and environmental legislation — the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. As soon as the new laws were passed, there were those who broke them.

While the program’s initial focus was stemming illegal sea turtle harvesting, its mission has evolved and expanded over time as OLE’s needs changed and new technologies became available. Today, 85 percent of the evidence that fishing enforcement agents send for scientific analysis goes to the NOAA Marine Forensics lab.

Most of the lab’s work now involves using DNA sequencing to identify the exact species a piece of fish or meat is. Sample quality can range from freshly frozen fish fillets to blood spatter to bone, and researchers can identify hundreds of species. The lab collects samples of many marine organisms as “standards” to compare with evidence. Experts identify the standard (whole) specimens that are collected for comparison to evidence. Lab staff members have training in expert witness testimony and keep every sample under lock and key, tracking them through each step to ensure the integrity of the evidence.

OLE Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gregg Houghaboom said that many cases could not be solved without the Marine Forensic Lab. “I sent them a bloody carpet out of a rental car trunk once, and they were able to tell me that there had been a bluefin tuna in that trunk,” he said. “We got a $20,000 Notice of Violation from that case, because the guy was over his bag limit, and selling undersized tuna to a dealer without a permit.”

Lab researchers also sometimes show that a defendant was wrongly accused.  Lab workers recently examined suspected sea turtle meat that turned out to be pork, and suspected whalebone that turned out to be moose.

The program currently has two analysts — Kathy Moore, who specializes in sea turtles, sharks, and marine mammals, and Trey Knott, who concentrates on finfish and other commercially valuable species.

Unlike scientists in an academic or basic research laboratory, lab investigators do their work with an eye to the courts. Kathy and Trey ensure their methods are well accepted by the scientific community and easily presentable to a jury.

The Marine Forensic Lab is an exceptional workplace where interesting, applied research makes a difference in the world — protecting endangered species and valuable fish stocks by helping put poachers in jail.

The nature of the work always keeps the researchers not only interested, but on their toes — they never know what evidence will show up in the next shipment.