As incredible as it may seem and despite the fact that sea Horse is protected according to national and international laws, in China if it is human trafficking with these animals and the authorities have not done much to stop this crime.
A case reported on The Truth News was recorded on July 19, 2018, when Daquan Zhen boarding a flight in Belize bound for ShanghaI. But when Zhen checked his luggage at Mexico City International Airport, where he stopped, the customs agents noticed a strong smell of fresh fish and asked him to open his suitcase.
During the assessment Officers found six black bags containing 81 seahorses (Hippocampus), sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea), and swim bladders of unidentified fish.
The marine species that Zhen carried in his trunk are used in China for medicinal and aphrodisiac purposesCurrently it is mainland China largest consumer of seahorses, (a type of fish) with an estimated demand of 500 tons per year, according to the Seahorse Marine Conservation Organization Project Seahorse, which is dedicated to promoting seahorse conservation.
This one they are crushed and eaten in soups or in wines to correct kidney problems and to balance Yin-Yang to treat male impotence and female infertility in China.
Exporting these species without proper permits in Mexico involves one penalty of up to nine years imprisonment. However, the problem of human trafficking has escalated in the country.
During the period 2001 to 2019, the traffickers tried to remove 95 thousand 589 seahorses illegal, without permission from the federal environmental protection attorney (Profepa). Of these, 64% had one destination the Chinese cities of Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, while the rest went to local Mexican sales, according to a report prepared by Diálogo Chino based on seizures from Profepa, delivered in an official letter through the Transparency Act.
The lawsuit against the seahorse trade
Zhen was presented to the Public Prosecution Service on July 19, 2018 and it was proven before Judge Angélica Lucio that he was a environmental crime, for seahorses are listed as Species covered by protection Specially under the general law of ecological balance and environmental protection and the general law of nature.
They are also prohibited in article 420 of the Federal Criminal Code and enjoy international protection in the second appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), therefore international trade is regulated.
The judge has imposed a preventive measure, which means that he should be put in prison while the trial is in preparation. Zhen was transferred to the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Mexico City, Reclusorio Sur, a prison on the coast of Mexico City that can accommodate 4,000 594 inmates (725 after overcrowding), serving sentences for crimes of simple robbery and serious crimes , murder, including sex crimes, extortion and organized crime.
The prosecution he had items to send him to prison. Compensation for the damages was set at $ 6,600, according to Criminal Case 181/2018 in the Federal Judicial Council’s Comprehensive Data Follow-Up System [CJF]
However, the trial was settled with the understanding that it would be Zhen’s punishment replaced by a fine and the warning that he cannot re-enter the country. Was released, despite the fact that illegal species were confiscated for possible commercial purposes.
Israel Alvarado, former Director General of Federal Crimes against the Environment and Litigation of Profepa, explained that things like this almost always end this way (for each kind) by corruption o la Lack of training and criteria of Profepa, the Public Prosecution Service 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 for having turtle eggs or totaba guts or horses,” the expert concluded.
According to the database, Zhen’s is just one of 56 administrative files initiated by Profepa for seahorse seizure. Of these 50, at least 36 were located at Mexico City International Airport, the point with the greatest connectivity to international destinations.
The seahorse trade 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 law, dried seahorses are very easy to move across borders.
“They are small and if they are dry, they keep for a long time,” explains the expert.
They are fished with trawl nets shrimp farms that sweep the sea, where thousands of species are trapped, including the seahorse. Once captured, they are frozen, although found dry in most attacks as they are better preserved during transfers.
The horses are traded by sea, by air and by parcel, and they are often transported between shipments of other dry seafood or in personal luggage, or other difficult-to-detect routes.
“Many horses are taken by parcel service, DHL and others,” explains Alicia Poot, researcher at the National Fisheries Institute (Inapesca). “Only when the parcels know it is illegal will they report it, but usually they don’t know it is illegal,” he explains.
The Seahorse exports can be technically done legally, for marketing purposes to the aquarian market or scientific collection (for education and research), as long as the stakeholders are supported by a management plan presented to the environmental authorities, to whom they must provide annual activity reports. Both productions have a limit imposed by the government.
But Mexico no longer issues licenses for the export of seahorses for purposes other than these. In this regard, Abraham Huerta, former officer of the Baja California Fisheries Secretariat in Mexico, explains that the only way to commercialize seahorses requires the creation of an environmental management unit (properties intended for the sustainable use of wild species), funds for aquaculture projects for the aquarium market.
In fact, recent evidence shows that the vast majority of dried seahorses crossing the border are not legal, registered or monitored.
The inability of the Mexican government to ensure the protection of the seahorse and ensure that it is not exported has led to the expansion of the black market of this kind.
Hong Kong the main buyer of seahorses
Dried seahorses are easy to find in Hong Kong’s dry fish stores. To be expensive products due to limited supply.
The price of 100 grams of dried seahorses varies between $ 120 and $ 580 (between $ 900 and $ 1500 Hong Kong), depending on size and origin.
Unlike property for local sale, the A license is required in Hong Kong for the export of dried seahorsesJournalists collaborating with Diálogo Chino in Hong Kong went to the stores where the seahorses are found and found vendors willing to help them smuggle them into mainland China.
‘Don’t bring it to mainland China yourself. Customs will arrest him, ”said an anonymous seller at a dried fish shop in Mong Kok, a major commercial area in Hong Kong. “We have ways that you don’t need to know or worry about. I also have customers in mainland China, ”he added.
The seller also claimed that the dried seahorses they sell, mainly come from America, including Mexico, and are imported by drug suppliers. The staff explained that the delivery service can be provided for an additional fee of HK $ 200 ($ 26) and that no regular courier in the market would accept the order.
Crossing the border with goods is not easyWe must seek the help of others. Either way, we have our own ways. You know, we still have to deliver products to the restaurants in Shenzhen, ”the seller said.
“There is no way you can send dried seahorses to mainland China according to the correct procedures. The only way to do this is through human trafficking “, said another owner of a dry fish shop in Sheung Wan.
He explained that implies applying for export permits heavy loads, but that he could help.
‘I can help you fix this regardless of assets. If people are willing to accept their money, it can be done, ”he said.
Seahorses used in Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) considers seahorses to be one medicine that can help strengthen the kidney and Yin-Yang balancing for the purpose of treating male impotence and female infertility.
“It works thanks to the sex hormones of the seahorses. The sex hormones in our bodies decline as a result of aging, so older people may need to take them from supplements such as seaweed, ”explains Zhang Shiping, associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University School of Chinese Medicine.
While some TCM practitioners prescribe seahorses, Zhang stressed that it’s not common in Hong Kong and mainland China. Instead, the people buy the seahorses themselves to make soup and medicinal wine.
“Seahorses can be used as a food or medicine with fewer side effects,” explains Zhang.
Zhang also said seahorses can be replaced with some medicinal herbs that have similar healing properties. As Hong Kong enacted the “Regulation for the Protection of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” in 1973, after signing the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES), they must use substitutes, 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) lthe authorities do not stop traffic partly because of incompetence, partly because of corruption. The result is an increasingly illegal trade.
“Our research has at least made some parties aware of the challenges in that area, and they now need to take steps to get it right,” explains Foster.
“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 well, ”added the expert.
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