They arrested Chinese seahorse trafficker in Ecuador

A Chinese citizen was arrested last Friday at José Joaquín de Olmedo Airport in Guayaquil. The individual allegedly attempted to traffic 213 seahorses (Hippocampus spp) to Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, as reported by the Attorney General of the Ecuadorian State.

The individual, identified as Wang J., was discovered by anti-narcotics authorities at the airport with five plastic bags weighing one and a half kilograms each in which the 213 seahorses were found hidden in his luggage. The agents, having learned of the nature of the shipment, alerted the Fauna and Flora Crimes Unit and the Ministry of the Environment, which would be responsible for filing a complaint with the country’s judicial authorities.

According to the Ecuadorian prosecutor’s office, Wang violated article 247 of the Ecuadorian Penal Code, which punishes crimes against wild fauna and flora. Therefore, the citizen of Chinese nationality he incurs sentences of one to three years of deprivation of liberty. The legal actions that have been taken against him have been carried out by the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, as well as by the Chinese Embassy in order for them to be carried out successfully. Finally, Wang J. He was summoned by the judge of criminal guarantees to a direct procedure to be conducted on October 7, for which he would be prohibited from being absent from Ecuador.

According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), fishing and transport of this marine species is illegal, due to its status as an endangered species. For this reason, Ecuador, within the framework of the said convention, would have agreed to strengthen the export control of the seahorse. Yes indeed, Ecuador reportedly put in place export permits for this species, which would only be granted if it could be verified that the shipment did not endanger existing seahorse populations in the country. However, cases of illegal fishing continue to be discovered.

On the other hand, the Bitácora Ambiental Ecuador organization emphasizes that seahorses would be valued in the market for $ 300 and $ 600 per kilo, mainly in Asian countries given its pharmacological use in traditional Chinese medicine. In this tradition, This marine species is said to be useful for treating conditions such as asthma, impotence, arteriosclerosis and heart problems, among other ailments.

According to Prohect SeaHorse, the demand on the seahorse is increasing by 10% per year and even by 50% in some parts of the world. Liu Minsheng, a biologist at a pharmaceutical company on Hainan Island in southern China, mentions that, In the Asian country, the demand is 250 tons each year, which corresponds to about 20 million seahorses for medicinal use or simply intended to be sold as decorations or snacks in the traditional markets of Hong Kong or Canton.

For its part, Ecuador has made efforts to stop illegal fishing in its territory and ensure the sustainability of marine resources. For example, on August 23, 2021, Andrés Arens, Deputy Minister of Fisheries, presented a series of proposals to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (CITT), among which he proposed to increase observer coverage on longliners in order to ” have better monitoring of fishing expeditions by 10% by 2015, as well as the elimination of transhipments at sea to make landings in authorized ports and consolidate provisions for the conservation of several marine species such as several species of sharks, also in danger of extinction. However, it appears that there is still work to be done in this regard.

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