Roy Francisco Saravia Sánchez
This project aims to design species-specific molecular primers for six species of billfishes from two families Xiiphidae and Istiophoridae. These species are under excessive fishing pressure and commercialization, done illegally, causing the decline of their natural populations.
In this context, it is proposed to build a protocol based on molecular tools (ITS1 and ITS2 regions of the rDNA) to ease the regulation and avoid the commercialization of subproducts derived from these organisms. The proposed protocol is characterized for being inexpensive ($0.94 per sample), quick (less than 4 hours), and reliable, which would favour the efficiency of management efforts and conservation.