Advisory committee approves NOAA permit to collect restricted marine species for eDNA research

The Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals voted unanimously to approve a permit request that would allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service to collect and temporarily possess multiple restricted anemones and corallomorphs for scientific research.

Trenton Yasui, an invertebrate and aquatic biologist specialist with the Plant Quarantine Branch, summarized the request on behalf of the applicant, Dr. Jennifer Samson, and said responsible scientist Dr. Andrew Schantz was present to answer questions. Yasui said the project’s goals are to develop environmental DNA (eDNA) markers to screen for nonnative species in Hawaiian waters and to assess potential impacts on native species after multiple nonnative detections in Pearl Harbor.

The committee’s approval was conditioned on standard biosecurity safeguards and pre-issuance verifications. Justin Rivera, NOAA’s permit coordinator, told the committee that a NEPA analysis had been completed for the work and that the project had a Finding of No Significant Impact; he offered to provide the NEPA documentation if the committee requested it. Andy Schantz, the NOAA researcher, described the planned safeguards at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center on Ford Island, a secure facility on Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, including restricted access and training requirements for laboratory areas.

Yasui described handling and decontamination protocols: collected organisms will be held in up to 10 aquaria with weekly 10% water changes; water from tanks holding nonnative species will be sieved and combined with bleach, held for 48 hours, with remaining bleach neutralized before disposal; biological material will be subjected to a 30% bleach/freshwater soak for three hours, air-dried and disposed of as biohazardous waste. Schantz said the lab has procedures for transferring and disposing of material in the event of a tsunami or other emergency and that the group “traditionally used Clorox bleach for our BMPs.”

Committee members asked for a list of trained personnel who would access lab spaces and for clarity on the specific disinfectant products to be used. Maria Hoss, an aquaculture specialist on the committee, recommended post-treatment visual and microscopic checks and noted that a 20% bleach concentration cited in the submittal is higher than typical: "We normally disinfect with 5% bleach or less, and that's considered adequate for most applications." Trenton said labeling and training verification could be added to permit conditions and that a site inspection would be required before issuing the permit.

Patrick Chi moved to approve the permit and Tom Eisen seconded. With no public testimony and no objections from committee members, the motion passed. The committee recorded that permit conditions and verification steps would be finalized by the branch before issuance.

The committee then moved on to other agenda items.