As amazing as it sounds and despite the Seahorse is protected by national and international laws, in China if it is trafficker with these animals and the authorities have not done much in this respect to curb this crime.
A case that was reported to The Truth News was registered on July 19, 2018, when Cadaqués Zhen boarded a flight to Belize bound for Shanghai. But when Zhen documented his luggage at Mexico City International Airport, where he was calling, customs officers perceived a strong aroma of fresh fish and asked him to open his suitcase.
During the review, the agents found six black bags containing 81 pieces of seahorses (Hippocampus), sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea) and unidentified fish swimming bladders.
The marine species that Zhen carried in his suitcase they are used in China for medicinal and aphrodisiac purposes. At present, mainland China is the largest consumer of seahorse, (A type of fish) with an estimated demand of 500 tons per year, according to the marine conservation organization Project Seahorse, dedicated to promoting the conservation of seahorse.
these they are ground and taken into soups or in wines to improve kidney problems and to balance Yin-Yang and thus treat male impotence and female infertility in China.
Exporting these species without the proper permits to Mexico involves a sentence of up to nine years in prison. However, in the country, the traffic problem has escalated.
During the period 2001 2019, the traffickers tried to pull out 95,589 seahorses illegally, without permission from the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa). Of these, 64% had com destination the Chinese cities of Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, while the rest was on local Mexican sale, according to a record compiled by Chinese Dialogue from Profepa seizures delivered in an office via the Transparency Act.
The trial faced by seahorse trafficking
Zhen was brought before the Public Prosecutor’s Office on July 19, 2018 and was shown before Judge Angelica Lucio that he had committed a environmental crime, for seahorses are listed as species Subject to Protection Special under the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection and the General Law of Wildlife.
They are also prohibited in section 420 of the Federal Penal Code and they have international protection in the second appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), so that its international trade is regulated.
The judge handed her a pre-trial detention measure, which means being sent to jail while the trial is being prepared. Zhen was transferred to the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Mexico City, Reclusorio Sur, a prison located on the shores of Mexico City that houses 4,594 inmates (725 overcrowded), who are serving sentences for theft offenses. simple and aggravated, homicide, sex crimes, extortion and organized crime, among others.
the prosecution he had items to send to prison. Compensation for damages was defined at $ 6,600, according to criminal case 181/2018 in the Comprehensive File Tracking System of the Federal Judiciary Council [CJF].
However, the trial was settled with an agreement so that the punishment on Zhen would be replaced by a fine and the warning that he cannot re-enter the country. he was released, Although they confiscated illegal species for possible marketing purposes.
Israel Alvarado, former director general of Federal Crimes against the Environment and Litigation of Profepa explained that such cases almost always end this way (For any species) for corruption o la lack of training and criteria of Profepa, the Public Ministry and the judges.
“The judge is very inclined not to have him credited because he finds it too hard for someone to go to jail to have some turtle eggs or totoaba guts or ponies,” the expert concluded.
Zhen’s is just one of 56 administrative proceedings initiated by Profepa for seahorse seizures, according to the database. Of that half a hundred, at least 36 were at Mexico City International Airport, the point with the most connectivity to international destinations.
Seahorse traffic and the problem of the law
According to Sarah Foster, author of the study Global Seahorse trade defies export bans under CITES action and national legislation, dry seahorses are very easy to move across borders.
“They are small and, when dried, hold up well for long periods of time,” the expert explained.
They are fished with trawls shrimps that sweep the sea, where thousands of species are trapped, among them the seahorse. Once trapped, they freeze, although in most seizures, they are found to be dry because they are best preserved during transfers.
The horses are traded by sea, air and parcel. and they often move between shipments of other dried seafood or in personal luggage, or by other routes difficult to detect.
“Many gulls are removed by parcel, DHL and others,” explained Alicia Poot, a researcher at the National Fisheries Institute (Inapesca). “Only if parcelers know it’s illegal is it reported, but mostly they don’t know it’s illegal,” he explained.
the Seahorse export can technically be given legally, For marketing purposes for the aquarists market or scientific collection (for teaching and research) provided that the interested parties have the support of a management plan submitted to the environmental authorities, to whom they must submit annual activity reports. Both productions have a limit imposed by authority.
But Mexico is no longer issuing permits for seahorse exports for purposes other than these. In this regard, Abraham Horta, former official of the Secretariat of Fisheries of Baja California in Mexico, explains that the only way to market seahorses, requires the establishment of an Environmental Management Unit (land intended for sustainable use of wild species), by means of projects of aquaculture for the market of aquarists.
In fact, recent evidence indicates that the vast majority of dry seahorses crossing borders are not legal, unregistered, or controlled.
The inability of the Mexican government to ensure the protection of the seahorse and ensure that it is not exported, has given rise to the expansion of the black market of this species.
Hong Kong the leading buyer of seahorses
Dried seahorses can be easily found in Hong Kong’s dried seafood shops. they are high priced products due to limited offerings.
The price of 100 grams of dried seahorses varies between $ 120 and $ 580 (between $ 900 and $ 1,500 in Hong Kong), depending on size and origin.
Unlike possession for local sale, the Export of dried seahorses requires licenses in Hong Kong. Journalists collaborating with Chinese Dialogue in Hong Kong went to the shops where the seahorses are found and found vendors very willing to help them traffic them in mainland China.
“Don’t take it to mainland China yourself. Customs will arrest you,” said an anonymous seller of a dried seafood store in Mong Kok, a major shopping area in Hong Kong. “We have ways you don’t need to know or worry. I also have clients in mainland China,” he added.
The seller also claimed that the dried seahorses they sell, they come mainly from America, including Mexico, And are imported by drug suppliers. The staff explained that the delivery service can be provided with an additional fee of HK $ 200 ($ 26) and that no ordinary courier service on the market would accept the order.
“It is not easy to cross the border with goods. We must seek the help of others. Anyway, we have our own forms. You know, we still have to supply products to restaurants in Shenzhen, ”said the seller.
“There is no way you can send dry seahorses to mainland China using the proper procedures. The only way to do that is by trafficking. “ said another owner of a dried seafood store in Sheung Wan.
He explained that applying for export licenses involves strong taxes, but that he could offer help.
“I can help you fix this, no matter what the goods are. If people are willing to accept their money, it can be done,” he said.
Seahorses used in Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) sees seahorses as one medicine that can help strengthen the kidney and balancing Yin-Yang, with the goal of dealing with male impotence and female infertility.
“It works thanks to the sex hormones of seahorses. Sex hormones in our body decrease due to aging, so older people may need to take them with supplements such as seaweed, ”explained Zhang Shiping, an associate professor at the University of China School of Medicine. Baptist of Hong Kong.
Although some practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine prescribe seahorses, Zhang stressed that it is not common in Hong Kong and mainland China. Instead, the people buy seahorses themselves to make soup and medicinal wine.
“Seahorses can be used as food or medicine with fewer side effects,” Zhang explained.
Zhang also said that seahorses can be replaced by some medicinal herbs that share similar healing properties. As Hong Kong established the “Ordinance on the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants”, after signing the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” ( CITES) in 1973, substitutes should have been used, but their consumption persists.
The current problem is that although the seahorse is protected by national and international laws (explains Dr. Alvarado, an expert in environmental law) lauthorities are not stopping traffic partly by ineptitude, partly by corruption. The result is an illegal trade that is on the rise.
“Our research has made at least some parties aware of the challenges in this regard, and they should now take steps to do well,” Foster explained.
“Alternatively, they can lift the bans and take steps towards legal and sustainable trade. For seahorses, at least, there are tools to help the parties do it right,” the expert added.
Enrique Peña Nieto is accused of money laundering, will he be brought to justice? Follow us on TikTok to stay informed.
And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel!