01 Investigation
Written by: Li Yinglin, Lao Xianliang
2021-02-22 07:00
Last update date: 2021-02-22 07:00
Seahorses are endangered or vulnerable wild animals. Import and export are regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The Hong Kong Customs seized 750 kilograms of smuggled seahorses in November last year. The market value is about 1 million yuan. The tip of the iceberg of global smuggling seahorse black market trade.
"Hong Kong 01" works with China Dialogue, a London-based non-profit organization, and investigative journalists in Mexico to track the smuggling path of the Mexican seahorse.
Mexico completely banned seahorse exports after 2012. Two years before the embargo, Hong Kong’s imports of Mexican seahorses increased sharply, but Mexico did not report relevant data to the Convention.
The reporter even discovered that many seafood shops or medicinal shops in Hong Kong blatantly claimed that they could "smuggle" seahorses to mainland China on behalf of their customers.
Reporters: Li Yinglin, Enrique Alvarado, Andres M. Estrada, Alejandro Melgoza
Editor: Li Yinglin, Lao Xianliang
Joint interview: Hong Kong 01, China Dialogue Diálogo Chino
The seahorse is an endangered or vulnerable wild animal, and its import and export are regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The picture shows the seahorse in Hong Kong Ocean Park.
(Information Picture / Photo by Jiang Zhiqian)
Chinese in Mexico sentenced for smuggling hippocampus
On July 19, 2018, a Chinese transliterated by Daquan ZHEN (Daquan ZHEN), from Belize, a Central American country, passed through Mexico City and flew to Shanghai. When the customs of Mexico City Airport inspected his luggage, he smelled a strong fishy smell. .
Law enforcement officers found six black bags in his luggage, a total of 81 seahorses, starfish, and fish maw that could not be identified from which fish.
These seafood can be used as Chinese medicinal materials, especially the hippocampus, which is often used to make soup or soak in wine. Many people believe that it has the effect of nourishing the kidney and strengthening yang.
On July 19, Zhen Daquan pleaded guilty in a Mexican court and was later detained.
In Mexico, the seahorse is a protected species. As a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, special permits are required to import and export seahorses.
The reporter looked through the court documents and the prosecution believed that Zhen Daquan could be sentenced to imprisonment and fined 22,696 US dollars (about 176,000 Hong Kong dollars).
However, after trial, he was eventually fined US$6,600 (approximately HK$51,000) and barred from entering Mexico.
Zhen Daquan is just one of the 56 criminal cases of seahorse smuggling uncovered by the Mexican Environmental Protection Agency, of which at least 36 people were arrested at Mexico City International Airport.
Corruption in Mexico
In Mexico, illegal poachers use trawl nets to hunt seahorses, freeze them into dried seahorses, and smuggle them out of the country through various channels such as mail and carry-on luggage.
Israel Alvarado, former director of environmental litigation at the Mexican Federal Environmental Protection Agency, believes that most of these cases end up with light fines, not only because of corruption, but also because of the lack of training of law enforcement, prosecution and judicial institutions in Mexico.
"The judge tends to be sentenced lightly. It may be that he feels that smuggling a little turtle egg, totou fish maw, and seahorse requires a harsh sentence."
China imports 500 tons per year
China is the world's largest consumer of hippocampus, importing about 500 tons per year.
In the past, the export of seahorses in Mexico needed to apply for a license. After 2012, the export was more fully banned. The maximum penalty for illegal export is nine years in prison. However, in recent years, seahorses smuggled from Mexico to Asia have been increasing year by year, and both importers and exporters have law enforcement loopholes.
According to data from the Mexican Federal Environmental Protection Agency, from 2001 to 2019, 95,589 seahorses attempted to be smuggled out of the country were traced. The number of true smuggling is believed to be much higher.
China is the world's largest consumer of hippocampus, importing about 500 tons per year.
Mainland authorities have also uncovered a number of seahorse smuggling cases in recent years. The picture shows the smuggling seahorses seized by Nanning Customs in Guangxi in 2018.
(China News Service)
64% of Mexico smuggled seahorses to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong
According to Mexico’s Information Transparency Law, the reporter found that 64% of the smuggled seahorses tracked by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency went to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.
Chinese demand is strong, but it is difficult to obtain legal import and export permits. Hong Kong has become a transit point for smuggling seahorses due to loose control.
According to figures from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, the total number of imported dried seahorses in Hong Kong has been on a downward trend in the past decade, from nearly 8,000 kg in 2010 to 221 kg in 2019.
However, the strong consumer demand for seahorses has resulted in underground transactions, which are not reflected in official statistics.
Mexico has not reported export data to the Convention
According to figures recorded in Hong Kong, the number of seahorses imported from Mexico from 2009 to 2011 soared from 200 kg to 900 kg, which is equivalent to 250,000 seahorses.
However, Sarah Foster, a global seahorse trade expert, pointed out that the Mexican authorities have not reported relevant data to the Convention, nor have they explained the reasons for the surge in trade volume in the past two years.
You can buy seafood in Hong Kong without permission
Dried sea horses are commonly found in medicinal materials and seafood shops in Hong Kong. Due to the limited supply, they are high-priced medicinal materials, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars per tael.
The larger the size of the seahorse, the more expensive it is, and its origin also affects the price.
No license is required to trade dried seahorses in Hong Kong. However, to export to other places, you must apply for a re-export license from the AFCD. Between 2015 and November 2020, the AFCD issued a total of 76 re-export licenses. Most of the 2,500 kilograms of seahorse originated in Thailand and re-exported from Hong Kong to Mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Canada and the United States.
However, the difficulty of applying for a permit does not mean that it is difficult to bring Haima to other places. Hong Kong seafood shops provide "valet smuggling" services.
Dried seahorse is a common and expensive medicinal material. The larger the volume, the more expensive the price, ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan per tael.
(Photo by Li Yinglin)
Mong Kok seafood shop: plus freight can be delivered to all of China
Most of the seahorses sold in a seafood shop in Mong Kok come from American countries, including Mexico. The staff told reporters pretending to be customers that the source is from a pharmaceutical factory. If a customer visits the shop and buys a certain amount of seahorses, they can send seahorses to the mainland on their behalf: "You Don’t bring it yourself, the customs will catch it. We have a way, you don’t have to deal with it, just pay some freight. I have customers on the top (inland)." He pointed out that the shipping cost is about 200 yuan, and it can be delivered to all of China. Reporters don’t have to worry about making compensation for problems.
However, he emphasized that you should not find a courier company to send the seahorse to the mainland. "It is not easy to ship. We also find people to bring the goods. In short, there are ways and channels."
A staff member of a seafood shop in Mong Kok pointed out that the seahorse can be sent to the mainland on behalf of customers, and the freight is only 200 yuan, and compensation will be made for problems in the middle.
(Photo by Li Yinglin)
Sheung Wan Seafood Store: Smuggling must be used to deliver it
At another seafood shop in Sheung Wan, the staff also claimed that they could find someone to bring the goods to the mainland for customers, saying bluntly that "it is useless to engage in (permit), it must be smuggled to deliver it."
He pointed out that if the seahorse is sent from Hong Kong to the mainland following the follow-up procedure, heavy taxation will be imposed: "If you buy it, it will help you to handle it. Bird's nest etc. can be anything, and someone will pay you."
A staff member of a seafood shop in Sheung Wan pointed out, "It's useless to engage in (license), it must be smuggled to deliver it."
(Photo by Li Yinglin)
Traditional Chinese Medicine: Few prescriptions can be replaced by more plants
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the hippocampus has the functions of invigorating the kidney and strengthening yang, promoting blood circulation, reducing swelling, and dispelling masses, and the pharmacology behind it is mainly related to sex hormones.
"Medicines for invigorating the kidney and strengthening yang have similar effects to sex hormones in the human body. Sex hormones decrease with the increase of human age, so many elderly people need to supplement." Causes of male impotence, female infertility, elderly asthma and other diseases.
Zhang Shiping pointed out that Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong and the Mainland seldom have prescriptions for hippocampus, and many citizens buy them by themselves for soup or wine soaking: "Hippocampus is a fish of the same kind of medicine and food, with relatively low side effects." He said that hippocampus is not. The irreplaceable medicinal materials, Chinese herbal medicines such as psoralen, Yinyanghuo, and raspberry also have the effect of nourishing the kidney and strengthening yang: "Plants can be cultivated, and they do relatively little damage to nature."
In fact, after Hong Kong signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 1973, it has already enacted the "Protection of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora Ordinance" to regulate it.
Zhang Shiping, an associate professor in the Teaching and Research Department of the School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, pointed out that hippocampus has the effect of nourishing the kidneys and yang. However, Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong and the Mainland rarely have prescriptions for hippocampus, and many people buy them on their own.
(Photo by Gong Jiasheng)
The embargo cannot stop smuggling
Sarah Foster, a global seahorse trade expert, said that dried seahorses are very easy to be taken out of the country. “The seahorses are small in size and easy to store. They are often mixed with other dried seafood. The smuggling route is also difficult to trace.” She said that banning seahorse trade has no effect. The high license threshold will only encourage illegal transactions in disguise. "The government can lift the ban and promote legal and sustainable seahorse transactions."
"Many are sent via courier companies," said Alicia Poot, an investigator at Mexico's National Fisheries Research Institute. "The staff of the courier company will report to the police if they know that the items were sent illegally, but they generally don't know that the seahorse is illegal. "
Abraham Huerta, a former official of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries of Baja California, Mexico, pointed out that the current authorities have not approved the license for commercial use of seahorses, and will only be approved if the importer and exporter provide the use plan and the application for research purposes.
Nevertheless, Mexico still has evidence that a large number of seahorses have been trafficked to the black market.
Epidemic cracks down on ants moving and smuggling, using traditional shipping routes
According to the Hong Kong Fisheries and Conservation Department, seahorse smuggling cases in Hong Kong are mainly imported. From 2015 to November last year, the AFCD and Customs have uncovered 264 seahorse smuggling cases involving 1,940 kilograms of seahorses.
From 2020 to February 18 this year, the Hong Kong Fisheries and Conservation Department and Customs have uncovered 13 cases of seahorse smuggling involving 117 kg of seahorses.
The largest of these cases was the Lok Ma Chau Control Point at the end of November last year, which spot-checked an express cargo from Indonesia via Shenzhen that was reported as a scrub, and 75 kilograms of dried seahorse seized when the consignee’s residence was searched. , Accounting for more than 60% of the total number of smuggled seahorses seized last year.
A customs spokesperson pointed out that due to the impact of the new crown virus this year, it is more difficult for criminals to smuggle endangered species in the form of "ant moving" as passengers, and then use freight to smuggle goods into and out of the country; in terms of smuggling methods, this year still uses traditional smuggling methods. A large number of endangered species are mainly smuggled along shipping routes.
In recent years, the Mexican authorities have arrested 36 people for smuggling seahorses at the Mexico City International Airport.
The picture shows passengers wearing masks at Mexico City Airport last year.
(Reuters)
Report is jointly interviewed by "Hong Kong 01" and "Diálogo Chino"
英文版English Version：Impunity and incompetence fuel illegal Mexico-China seahorse trade
Spanish Version: El comercio ilegal de caballitos de mar entre México y China aumenta
Portuguese Version: Comércio ilegal de cavalos-marinhos entre México e China prospera sem fiscalização
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