The Chinese black market will never be complete without the priceless and famous totoaba fish swim bladder. The expensive fish organ is believed to possess medicinal properties and is already on the verge of extinction along with the bycatch vaquitas.
The totoaba fish is highly-priced for its swim bladder and is already an endangered species as well. The totoaba fish swim bladders are smuggled to the black market of Shantou in the Guandong province of China. These swim bladders are referred to as "maws" with a selling price of a whopping $20,000 for a kilo. No wonder the totoaba fish swim bladder is also known as the "aquatic cocaine", The Guardian reports.
According to the intelligence-led group, Elephant Action League spokesperson Andrea Crosta, the consumers' demand for the totoaba fish swim bladder is still high and substantial regardless of the price. He mentioned that because of the exorbitant price, only the well-off people could afford the precious fish organ.
Based on the conducted investigation, the totoaba fish swim bladder or maw is mostly used as a business present or a wedding gift aside from its medicinal purpose. The Chinese maw traders favor those that are caught domestically, however, the totoaba fish becomes scarce due to overfishing. Fishermen use gillnets that the Mexican government banned and will expire at the end of May 2017. However, the illegal fishing continues and the WWF conservation group called on for a permanent sanction.
With the use of gillnets, innocent vaquitas become victims drastically declining its population. BBC reports that campaigners stated that the population of the vaquita porpoises has been reduced to just 30. Since 2011, the vaquita's population plunged to 90 percent. In fact, just this year during the months of March and April, there have been recovered five dead vaquita porpoises where three perished in gillnets. These poor cetaceans are victims for the hunt of the bountiful trophy, the totoaba fish swim bladder.
The sad plight of the vaquita porpoises caught the attention of the "Titanic" actor Leonardo DiCaprio who is a wildlife enthusiast and conservationist. He gave his support in preserving the population of the vaquita porpoises that are caught along with totoaba fishes.
Scientists collaborate with the US along with the Mexican navies in using bottlenose dolphins to track down vaquita porpoises in the Gulf of California. They want to catch the cetaceans to bring them to protected waters and will be returned to its native waters as soon as the threat of illegal fishing and other illicit activities will no longer put the lives of vaquita porpoises in danger.
