According to a new study that warns a new study that warns that the trade scale suggests that current data suggest that current data suggests that about five million smuggled seahorses, according to a new study that warns that the trade scale is much greater than the current data suggest.
Posted today in Conservation biology, The study analyzed the online seizures records from 2010 to 2021 and found smuggling incidents in 62 countries, with dried sea horses, widely used in traditional medicine, more commonly intercepted in airports in passenger or sent luggage or sent in marine load.
“The almost 300 seizures that we analyzed were based only on online records and voluntary revelations, including government and news notices. This means that what we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg,“ This first author Dr. Sarah Foster, research associates in the SEAHORSE project of UBC and the focal point for the trade of the International Union for the Conservation of Global Nature Expert Group on sea horses and their relatives.
SEhorses were often seized along with other products that are illegally exchanged, such as elephant ivory and Pangolin scales, Showing marine life is smuggling like earthly wildlife in global networks.
The team also found emerging trade routes for dried sea horses involving Europe and Latin America, as well as main destinations such as China and Hong Kong. “Commercial routes seem to be diversifying, and they must also enforce efforts,“ said co -author Syd Ascione, undergraduate research biologist in Project Seahorse.
Legal trade of seahorses
The international trade of sea horses is allowed with permits that certify that it does not harm wild populations under the International Trade Convention of Endangered Species End of Fauna and Wild Flora (CITES), an agreement between 184 countries, including Canada and the European Union. But barriers such as demonstrating that trade is sustainable makes permits difficult to obtain, moving the trade underground.
The researchers also pointed out that the data on seizures are scarce, particularly for marine life, and application efforts often focus on larger and charismatic animals such as elephants or tigers.
“All countries must intensify with strong deterrent elements (good detective work, determined application and significant sanctions) to close the illegal trade of sea horses“ Said main author, Dr. Tele Phelps, Bondaroff, Director of Research at Oceansasia. “At the same time, we must continue using innovative research and research methods to discover hidden networks and higher traffickers.”
Intensifying the application
The study found that the majority of seahorses of seahors occurred in transit or destination countries, highlighting the potential efficacy of application efforts at those points.
Airports were the most common places where seahorses were seized, with passenger luggage that represented the largest number of cases. However, the largest seizures by volume were found in the load of the sea, highlighting the need for countries to closely monitor illegal wildlife that moves by sea.
Customs and other application agencies made the vast majority of the convulsions reported, but only seven percent of these had information on legal sanctions, making it not clear with the frequency with which the incursions lead to punishment.
Values for seahorses seized in 34 records were provided. Using these, the researchers estimated that the average value per sea horse was approximately body $ 7, for a total of CAD $ 29 million in 10 years.
Sea horses are used in traditional medicine and can be a valuable source of income for fishermen, so efforts to reduce illegal trade need both a carrot and a stick, said Dr. Foster. “We need to make legal and sustainable trade viable enough for people to obey the laws and make sure that we also have sufficient dissuasive elements to stop illegal activity.”
The seahorses are a symbol of oceanic biodiversity and protecting them helps everyone involved, he added. “We have worked with traditional medicine merchants in Hong Kong, and when we ask them,” How long do you want seahorses? “They say” Forever, they are really important! “And we agree.”