As incredible as it may seem, despite the fact that Seahorse It is protected by national and international law, in China if it is traffic with these animals and the authorities did not do much to stop this crime.
A case that has been reported to The Truth News was registered on July 19, 2018, when Daquan Zhen boarded a flight to Belize to ShanghaI. But when Zhen checked his luggage at Mexico City International Airport, where he was stopping, customs officers noticed a strong smell of fresh fish and asked him to open his suitcase.
During the examination, Agents found six black bags containing 81 pieces of sea horses (Hippocampus), sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea) and unidentified fish swimming bladders.
The marine species that Zhen was carrying in his suitcase are used in China for medicinal and aphrodisiac purposes. At present, mainland China is the largest consumer of sea horses, (a type of fish) with an estimated demand of 500 tonnes per year, according to the marine conservation organization of the Seahorse project, dedicated to promoting the conservation of seahorses.
These they are crushed and taken into soups or in wines to improve kidney problems and balance Yin-Yang and thus treat male impotence and female infertility in China.
The export of these species without the appropriate permits to Mexico involves a up to nine years in prison. However, in the country, the problem of trafficking has increased.
In the period 2001-2019, traffickers tried to take out 95 thousand 589 sea horses illegal, without the permission of the Federal Prosecutor for Environmental Protection (Profepa). Of these, 64% had that destination the Chinese cities of Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, while the rest went on local Mexican sale, according to a report by Diálogo Chino based on the seizures from Profepa delivered in an official letter through the Transparency Law.
The process facing sea horse trafficking
Zhen was presented on July 19, 2018 to the Public Ministry and it was proved before Judge Angélica Lucio that he committed a environmental crime, for sea horses are listed as Species subject to protection Especially under the General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection and the General Law on Wildlife.
They are also prohibited in Article 420 of the Federal Criminal Code and have international protection in the second appendix to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), its international trade is therefore regulated.
The judge issued a measure of pre-trial detention, which means being admitted to prison while the trial is ready. Zhen was transferred to the Federal Center for Criminal Justice in Mexico City, Reclusorio Sur, a prison on the shores of Mexico City that houses 4 thousand 594 detainees (725 after overcrowding), serving sentences for simple robbery and aggravation, homicide, sexual offenses, extortion and organized crime, among others.
prosecution he had objects to send to prison. Compensation for damages was defined at USD 6,600, according to criminal case 181/2018 in the Comprehensive System for Tracking the Records of the Federal Judicial Council [CJF].
However, the trial was settled with the agreement that Zhen’s sentence be replaced with a fine and the warning that he cannot re-enter the country. He was released, despite the fact that illegal species have been confiscated for commercial purposes.
Israel Alvarado, former director general of federal environmental crime and litigation Profepa, explained this these types of cases almost always end this way (for any species) of corruption o la Lack of training and the criteria of Profepa, the Public Ministry and the judges.
“The judge is very inclined not to have him as an accredited person, because it seems too difficult for someone to go to prison because he had turtle eggs or a tortoise or racing,” the expert concluded.
Zhen’s is just one of the 56 administrative files initiated by Profepa for the confiscation of sea horses, according to the database. Of these fifty, at least 36 were at Mexico City International Airport, the point with the highest connectivity to international destinations.
Sea horse trafficking and the law
According to Sarah Foster, author of the study Seahorse Global Trade defies export bans under CITES and national law, dry seahorses are very easy to move across borders.
“They are small and, when dry, keep well for long periods of time,” the expert explained.
They are fished with trawls shrimp farms that sweep the sea, where thousands of species are caught, including the sea horse. Once caught, they are frozen, although in most crises they are found to be dry because they are better preserved during transfers.
Horses are trafficked by sea, air and parcels, and are often moved between shipments of other dried seafood or in personal luggage or other routes that are difficult to detect.
“Many horses are taken out by parcel, DHL and others,” said Alicia Poot, a researcher at the National Fisheries Institute (Inapesca). “Only if the parcels know it’s illegal is it reported, but for the most part I don’t know it’s illegal,” he explained.
The export of sea horses can be done from a legal point of view, for marketing purposes for the aquarium market or scientific collection (for teaching and research), as long as stakeholders are supported by a management plan submitted to the environmental authorities, to whom it must submit annual activity reports. Both productions have a limit imposed by the authority.
But Mexico no longer issues permits for the export of sea horses for purposes other than these. In this regard, Abraham Huerta, former official of the Baja California Secretariat for Fisheries in Mexico, explains that the only way to market seahorses requires the establishment of an Environmental Management Unit (properties for sustainable use of wildlife), means of projects aquaculture for the aquarium market.
In fact, recent evidence indicates that the vast majority of dry seahorses crossing borders are not legal, not registered or monitored.
The inability of the Mexican government to guarantee the protection of the sea horse and to ensure that it is not exported has led to the expansion of the black market of this species.
Hong Kong, the main buyer of sea horses
Dried seahorses can be easily found in Hong Kong’s dried seafood stores. you high priced products due to limited supply.
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 sea horses requires licenses in Hong Kong. Journalists working with Diálogo Chino in Hong Kong went to the shops where the seahorses are found and found vendors willing to help them smuggle them into mainland China.
“Don’t bring him to mainland China. Customs will arrest him, “said an anonymous salesman at a dried seafood store in Mong Kok, a major shopping area in Hong Kong.” We have ways you don’t have to know or worry. I have customers in mainland China, ”he added.
The seller also claimed that the dried sea horses they sell, they come mainly from America, including Mexicoand are imported by drug suppliers. The staff explained that the delivery service can be provided for an additional fee of US $ 200 ($ 26) and that no regular courier on the market would accept the order.
“Crossing the border with goods is not easy. We must seek the help of others. Anyway, we have our own ways. You know, we still have to supply products to restaurants in Shenzhen, “said the seller.
“There is no way you can send dry sea horses to mainland China using the proper procedures. The only way to do that is through traffic. “ said another owner of a dried seafood store in Sheung Wan.
He explained that applying for export licenses involves heavy taxes, but that he could offer help.
“I can help you fix this, regardless of its assets. If people are willing to accept their money, it can be done, “he said.
Sea horses used in Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) regards sea horses as being medicine that can help strengthen the kidneys and Yin-Yang balancing, in order to treat male impotence and female infertility.
“It works because of the sex hormones of sea horses. Sex hormones in our bodies decrease due to aging, so older people may have to take them from supplements such as seaweed, ”said Zhang Shiping, an associate professor at the Chinese School of Medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Although some TCM practitioners prescribe sea horses, Zhang pointed out that it is not common in Hong Kong and mainland China. Instead, people buy their own sea horses 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 with some herbs that have similar healing properties. As Hong Kong established the “Ordinance on the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Animals” following the signing of the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES) in 1973, they should use substitutes, but their consumption persists.
The current problem is that although the sea horse is protected by national and international laws (explains Dr. Alvarado, an environmental expert) lthe authorities do not stop traffic partly because of ineptitude, partly because of corruption. The result is an increasingly illegal trade.
“Our research has made at least some parties aware of the challenges in this regard and now they should take steps to do it right,” Foster explained.
“Alternatively, they can lift the bans and take steps towards legal and sustainable trade. For sea riders, at least, there are tools to help the parties do well “, added the expert.
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