Mexican fish more pricey than cocaine due to alleged aphrodisiac qualities
MEXICO CITY: A fish endemic to Mexico's Gulf of California has been the target of poaching for decades because its swim bladder is highly coveted in China, where it is believed to possess aphrodisiac and medicinal properties.
Illegal fishing of the critically endangered totoaba furthermore threatens to drive another unique marine species to extinction, the vaquita, a type of porpoise whose numbers are believed to have fallen to less than 40.
"We've carried out different seizures of more than 100 (totoaba fish) over the past year. The totoaba swim bladder can be worth as much as US$60,000 (RM268,000) per kilogram," on the black market, Ignacio Millan, a deputy prosecutor at Mexico's Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa), told EFE.
The totoaba is not a particularly attractive marine animal. A member of the Sciaenid family of carnivorous fish, it can grow to up to two meters in length, weigh as much as 100kg and live more than 20 years.
Its value stems from its highly prized swim bladder, a gas-filled internal organ that allows many fish to control their buoyancy.
In China, great value has long been placed on the swim bladder of a fish known as the bahaba, which is served in soups and believed to have aphrodisiac, medicinal and regenerative qualities.
But with the bahaba nearly extinct, Chinese consumers of that delicacy have turned their attention to the totoaba.
"It is said to provide greater sexual potency, reduce cholesterol, improve circulation, rejuvenate the skin and add longevity to those who consume it," Sen. Diva Hadamira said in denouncing the poaching of the totoaba in the upper house of Mexico's Congress in 2014.
That species' numbers declined drastically between the 1940s and 1975 when a permanent fishing ban was instituted.
But despite that and other protective measures, seizures of the totoaba fish totalling more than 17 tons occurred between January 2013 and May 2014, according to Mexico's Navy Secretariat. — Bernama