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Joanna Murray

Joanna Murray

I work in the Environment and Ecosystems division at Cefas.

My focus is on marine monitoring and ecology.

Safeguarding Global Coral Trade: The Power of a New Visual Guide for Border Inspections

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: biodiversity, International, Monitoring, Science, Vulnerable species, Wildlife trade
Pieces of hard coral during import check at Heathrow. Photo credit. Border Force.

It’s a dark, damp evening in February 2023 when staff from UK Border Force’s CITES team are called to Heathrow’s Animal Reception Centre to inspect a shipment of hard coral. A mismatch between the CITES permit and its packing list …

How science, partnerships and innovation are key to tackling illegal trade of sharks and rays in Indonesia

Posted by: , , and , Posted on: - Categories: Fisheries, Wildlife trade
Blacktip reef shark 

A standardised training programme for shark and ray trade inspectors, a team of 20 expert trainers increasing staff capacity nationally and a global expert in identifying shark products from DNA are just some of the highlights delivered as part of …

Launching a new visual tool to identify shark trunks in the international meat trade

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Vulnerable species
Front covers of the three guide series on identifying CITES-listed sharks and rays.

The first shark trunk visual identification guide is launched as part of a one stop toolkit for regulating trade in CITES-listed species Warning: This blog contains images of sharks without fins or heads as part of a training exercise to …

Trade in live coral: how we are developing tools to improve tracking of the most traded marine animals

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: International, Vulnerable species
A photo of corals underwater

It may come as a surprise to some that corals are not rocks or plants, but marine invertebrate animals made up of hundreds to thousands of tiny organisms called polyps, joined together by limestone skeletons. Corals are the building blocks …

How we are tackling illegal trade of sharks and rays in the world’s largest shark fishing nation

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Fisheries, Socio Economics

Unsustainable trade of shark products, most notably shark fins, threatens the survival of some species. The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement that aims to ensure commercial trade …