A major challenge facing the seafood industry is confirming the identity of fish sold in restaurants, seafood markets, and by wholesalers. In 2010, Florida Sea Grant funded research to develop rapid, simple, field-based detection technology that could differentiate grouper from other fish and combat seafood mislabeling fraud. Based on their work, the researchers patented and commercialized a new product (during 2015-2016) that can rapidly test the authenticity of grouper.
American Lobster
Sea Grant’s American Lobster Initiative awards $5.4 million to further innovative research and outreach in support of the lobster industry and fishing communities
Since 2019, Sea Grant’s American Lobster Initiative has addressed critical knowledge gaps about the American lobster and its fishery facing a dynamic and changing environment. The Initiative supports a regional extension program in the Northeast and a national research competition. Fifteen emerging research projects were selected in 2023 and 2024 for $4.6 million in federal funding by the NOAA National Sea Grant College Program. Coordinated by Maine Sea Grant since 2019, the Northeast lobster extension program was recently renewed with an $840,000 federal award that supports work through 2026.