China's craze for 'aquatic cocaine' is pushing two species into oblivion
China's craze for 'aquatic cocaine' is pushing two species into oblivion
Affluent Chinese are putting two Mexican species at risk due to demand for dried swim bladders. But will this year’s Cites meeting on the wildlife trade force a crackdown?
Jeremy Hance
Monday 11 January 2016 14.50 EST
Many would probably find the idea of consuming a fish’s swim bladder unappetizing. More still would be unwilling to part with £2,000 for such a bladder, otherwise known as a maw. But China’s demand for swim bladders from a giant Mexican fish – the totoaba – is not only putting it at risk, but also the world’s smallest porpoise, the vaquita (‘little cow’ in Spanish). Today, there are less than a hundred vaquitas in the world, and no one knows how many totoaba are left. Given the dire state of these two species, conservationists hope that the Cites international meeting in Geneva this week will take strong action.
“The vaquita’s extinction clock stands at one minute to midnight and the species is being pushed into oblivion by the demand of a relatively small number of Chinese consumers of totoaba maw,” said Clare Perry, the team leader of the Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA) Oceans Campaign.
The EIA has just released a new report on the trade that finds totoaba swim bladders are still openly sold in Guangzhou and Hong Kong as well as online. The maws have been dubbed ‘aquatic cocaine’ due to prices that currently range from £1,750 to £6,500 – even after prices dropped 60-80% in the last two years, according to the EIA.
Perry said that the swim bladders are largely bought by wealthy Chinese as “collection items or gifts” and even as financial investments.
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2016/jan/11/china-aquatic-cocaine-vaquita-totoaba-mexico-endangered-extinct
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They seem to care less about life on the planet than the average world citizen.