Sample export permits are approved!

 

All,

Thank you all for your patience with this project. I realize it has been a VERY long time since I've updated you on the status of this project. But, in the last two weeks things have been happening that I think warrant an update.

First and foremost, just yesterday Tommaso Giarrizzo in Brazil informed me that the Brazilian export permits have been approved. This is a big deal! It means we finally have the official approval we need to send the rostral tooth samples to the United States so that I can complete the analysis.

We still need to coordinate the permits here on the US side before we ship the samples. Basically, the permits from Brazil and the permits from the US need to meet at the border, along with all the samples, and everything needs to be in perfect order and everything needs to match. Once that happens they can be cleared for import. But, having the export permits means we are one large step closer to getting the samples into the lab. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

This has been such a long process not just because there is alot of paperwork and coordination involved, but mostly because the global Covid-19 pandemic has upended so much of what all of us in this collaboration are doing. On the Brazilian side particularly we were locked out of the labs for many months. The same was true on the US side. All the other work we are doing was also knocked off kilter and that has required time to put our research houses in order, make sure that the agreements and projects that pay our salaries are attended to, and generally to deal with all the upheaval of the pandemic. This has put our timeline back by more than a year. But, we're making progress!

International Sawfish Day

For International Sawfish Day this year (October 17th every year), I sat down with the incomparable Rafaela Brito to discuss the paper we recently published on sawfish tooth chemistry.

Rafaela is a PhD candidate under Dr. Jorge Nunes at Federal University of Maranhão in São Luis Brazil. She studies elasmobranchs on the Amazonian coast, and facilitated the conversation on YouTube live. It was great to see Rafaela and Jorge again, as it's been two years now since I saw them both in São Luis. Some of the conversation is in Portuguese, my presentation is in English (my Portuguese just isn't up to presenting scientific work right now, sorry ). Click the "CC" button, the subtitles are excellent if you don't understand either language.

I've shared this research here before, but it is now officially published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (link to journal article). This article is paywalled, so if you'd like to read the final version you can download it from my website (here).

Again, thank you all for your patience as we've slowly inched toward completing this project. I hope that updates will come with more regularity now that we are making progress in importing the samples!

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. You can contact me here by leaving a comment and starting a discussion. You can also contact me on Twitter (@AFishInSchool), Instagram (@jenshegg, @peixes_amazonicos), and through my website (www.jenshegg.com).

Keep in touch!

Jens