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Nearly five million hippocamples of smuggling have been seized worldwide by the authorities over a period of 10 years, have noted that Canadian researchers warned that it is only the “tip of the iceberg” in an illegal trade which is probably much greater.
To follow how much the question is widespread, researchers from the University of British Columbia went out on public reports and reports shared between 2010 and 2021, finding nearly 300 cars of automobiles involving 62 different countries.
In total, the five million attacks brought about $ 29 million (US $ 21 million), they said in A study recently published the biology of conservation.
Dried hippocamples are often wanted to be used in traditional medicine. The most common destinations for them are China and Hong Kong, according to the study, but they can be bought in online Canada and in traditional medicine stores.
Given that the conservative estimates of the study are only drawn from public archives, “the real scale of the trade in illegal hippocamples will be much more important,” said Sarah Foster, principal author and researcher at the Institute of Ons and Fisheries of the UBC, which is also led by Project Seahorse, a marine conservation organization.
Although none of the publicly reported crises of the study was in Canada, 19 “application files” linked to the hippocamples have been opened since 2020, according to an environment and climate change Canada press release. This includes 15 in the Pacific region, “mainly involving dried hippocamps or hippocampal products (for example, drugs or traditional supplements).”
Early edition7:15Millions of hippoiries exchanged illegally, discovers the study
A UBC researcher shares the results of a Hippocampus illegal trade study – an industry of $ 29 million.
A tangled network
The study also offers details on smuggling methods and the complexity of smuggling routes, said Foster.
Most of the hippocamps’ crises involved passenger luggage in airports, but the largest volumes were moved by the ship, she said. In sea cargoes, they were often exchanged alongside other wild animals, such as pangolins, elephant ivory, penguin scales, sea cucumbers and shark fins.
“Thus, by designing strategies to find and report the illegal trade in hippocamples, the authorities will also help to solve this problem for other marine and other wild species,” said Foster.
In an unusual crisis recorded in Vietnam, hippocamples apparently came from Peru; But when the authorities examined the species, they found that they were from West Africa.
“These hippocaliers had left [from] West Africa, [to] Peru, [and] Vietnam on the way, allegedly, would end up being in continental China, “she said.
To counter this global trade, governments must work together to share information and strategies on how to catch smugglers, said Foster. And more importantly, she added, claim against the threat to the species and biodiversity.
Trade training effect
Hippocamps can be legally negotiated according to the rules described by the International Commerce Convention in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES), an agreement signed by 183 countries, including Canada.
Exporters are required to have a permit, proving that their trade is monitored, legally coming and does not harm the populations.
“These permits are very, very difficult to obtain,” said Max Valentine, director of the illegal fishing and transparency campaign for Oceana, an international ocean conservation organization.
“Most of this illegal business is [from] People who do not catch them with permits or regulations in place. “”
Currently, two hippocampal species are considered to be in critical danger The International Union for Nature Conservation.
Biodegradable metal frames are installed underwater off the east coast of Australia to provide a house to the endange of White. The structures will eventually be corroded, leaving a semi-natural reef which will help the wider ecosystem and will give the Ahions of the Ahions to recover the population of their species.
The illegal harvest has serious repercussions not only on the populations of hippocamples, but also on the underwater environment as a whole, said Valentine.
The hippocamples are generally captured by the undercover – using large weighed nets trained through the bottom of the ocean – which, according to Valentine, is “widely considered as one of the most destructive fishing practices on the planet”.
“”[The nets] Ripper all the habitats with which they come into contact, “she said.” As they removed these water nets, everything is already dead. So we have lost all this biomass, all these environmental organizations. “”
According to Environmental Hippocaliers, he also disrupts the food chain, she said, affecting the fields of the people who feed, as well as those who eat them too.
Save the sea a hippocampus at once
Valentine said that when she had heard of this smuggling study by Seahorse “Bombshell”, she was “shocked and dismayed”.
“To learn that there was such a devastating and illegal harvest of these species … is really disappointing.”
By highlighting the problems with which the hippocaliers face, the authors of the study say that they hope that they will be able to draw attention to the wider threats encountered by marine life.
“People really like hippocaliers, they capture the imagination of people,” said Foster. “We like to say that by saving hippocamples, we will save the seas.”
