Fish Bladders Worth More Than Cocaine, by Jordan Wheatley

In Mexico, a man was stopped at a checkpoint. Police discovered in this man’s tires that there were a bunch of black, little plastic bags rolled up. According to Mexican police, they believed this was just a normal drug bust of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and other illegal substances (Lah, 2016). However, what was within the black bags was something very fishy… actual fish! Well fish swim bladders to be exact. There were 121 fish swim bladders that came out of these plastic bags! This kind of product retails on the Hong Kong black market for around $750,000. A separate bust of fish bladders contained 600 bladders that the Mexican police had stopped from crossing into Asian countries (Lah, 2016). 

Dried gas bladder of the Totoaba.  Photo Greenpeace Asia.

These bladders are all coming from mature totoaba Totoaba macdonaldi that were cut up and left to die. A fish uses its swim bladder in order to control its buoyancy in the water by inflating and deflating the bladder. According to certain Chinese traditions, consuming the dried swim bladders from totoaba will make you beautiful. These bladders are sold in fish markets all across China along with other preserved fish product that claim to have curable powers. The tradition that the Chinese hold on to is that fish bladders contain collagen and therefore when eaten will give you more youthful looking skin. But what makes the totoaba swim bladder different? According to the Chinese, it’s because the totoaba is a rarity and is strongly distinguished by the two tentacles on both sides of the swim bladder and it’s only present in the Gulf of California. The totoaba once supported an important commercial fishing industry (2,260 tons of Totoaba fillets were exported to the United States in 1942).  Yields fluctuated based on climate and Colorado River inflows (Lercari and Chávez 2007).  However, illegal fishing now threatens its existence.

Fresh totoaba bladders found hidden under a car’s floormats by Mexican and US border agents in 2013. Photo: Department of Justice

One of its neighbors would include the rarest marine mammal in the world, the endangered vaquita Phocoena sinus. This kind of elusive trade sadly threatens to wipe out both species. This creates a problem because when fishermen are catching totoaba they use large nets, called gill nets. Because the vaquita and totoaba are similar in size and in the same area it makes them more susceptible to be caught in the gill nets accidentally. Causing the population of both threatened species to decrease even more.

Approximate range of the Totoaba.  NOAA Fisheries

This is an issue for the ecosystem because the totoaba are critically endangered (Findley, 2010). In the Sea of Cortex in Mexico, these fish count as one of the top predators. Sardines, anchovies, and crustaceans count as the majority of their diet (Juarez et al., 2016). Considering this species’ place in this ecosystem it is essential to maintain the population here. If the population is not maintained then the area’s food chain will change. If the totoaba population declines than this will cause their prey to have a mass increase and result in primary producers to decrease. Overall, this results in a decline for all other organism that rely on primary producers.

Totoaba caught from coastal waters off San Felipe, Baja California, ca. 1954. Weight ca. 91 kg (200 pounds). Photo courtesy of Tony Reyes, San Felipe

Currently, the fines and arrests made for the smuggling of totoaba animal products have been extremely light (Joyce, 2016). This is unfortunately not a big deterrent for smugglers compared to the large sum of money they will receive from the job. The totoaba swim bladders bring smugglers the same amount of money as cocaine would! Therefore to the smugglers, the cost outweighs the consequences at this moment. This is the reason for swim bladders becoming the “new cocaine” because of their high demand. And to take into consideration that the annual funding for the US environmental law enforcers is around $76,000 for the Department of fish and wildlife and $6.5 million for the US Coast Guard (USFW, 2005). Whereas, the Drug Enforcement Administration receives around $3 billion annually (DEA, 2000). This is interesting because currently the demand for illegal animal products is just as high as the demand for illegal drugs.

Fish caught from a kayak within coastal waters of the northern Sea of Cortez off Baja California, April 2018. Length: ca. 90 cm (35 inches).      photo courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, CA.

On the other hand the Mexican government is making an effort to protect this species. They have turned the popular spawning areas for totoaba into marine protected areas. A marine protected area is an area in which animals are given a place to take refuge and human activity is highly limited. However, this 400 miles of coastline is under surveillance only twice a day by the Mexican military. This area is also the only habitat under surveillance out of the 5,000 square miles that the totoaba use to nurse and spawn. This is allowing for the rest of the area to be vulnerable for any poachers that can get their hands on the totoaba swim bladders. Altogether, there should be more assistance on the enforcement of this issue.

           

Currently, there have been efforts to solve this issue as well. In the years between 2007 and 2010, two small-scale companies started a trial involving totoaba farming (Juarez et al., 2016). The goals of this trial were to grow juvenile totoaba in captivity and then release them as stock into their natural habitat. This trial was moderately successful at first due to limited temperature control that reduced spawning capabilities. However, this provided insight and influence for other organizations to breed the totoaba eventually turning it into a very successful aquaculture program. Unfortunately, this program collapsed due to habitat degradation and overfishing of the stock. If the totoaba population is to be restored, then aquaculture is currently the best option. However, this is dependent off of the regulation of overexploitation and enforcement to maintain the population. Without this kind of regulation then the introduced stock will just decline and all efforts will go to waste. Therefore, enforcement similar to the United States Game and Inland Conservation Officers will be useful to regulate how many fish are being taken from the population. In order to apply this type of system then fisherman, stockholders, governments, private corporations, and environment organizations will need to come together in order to solve this problem for the common good. (Juarez et al., 2016)

References

DEA Staffing and Budget. 2000 [accessed 2019 Apr 8]. https://www.dea.gov/staffing-and-budget

Findley, L. 2010. Totoaba macdonaldi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T22003A9346099. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T22003A9346099.en.

Joyce C. 2016. Chinese Taste For Fish Bladder Threatens Rare Porpoise In Mexico. NPR. Accessed 2019 Apr 8 https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/02/09/466185043/chinese-taste-for-fish-bladder-threatens-tiny-porpoise-in-mexico

Juarez LM, Konietzko PA, Schwarz MH. 2016. Totoaba Aquaculture and Conservation: Hope for an Endangered Fish from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. 2016 Dec 15 [accessed 2019 May 6]. https://www.was.org/articles/Totoaba-Aquaculture-and-Conservation-From-sea-of-cortez.aspx#.XNBg3etKjOR

Lah K. 2016. 'Aquatic cocaine': Fish bladders are latest Mexican smuggling commodity. CNN. Accessed 2019 Apr 8 https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/23/health/aquatic-cocaine-totoaba-bass-smuggling/index.html

Lercari, D., and E.A. Chávez. 2007.  Possible causes related to historic stock depletion of the totoaba, Totoaba macdonaldi (Perciformes: Sciaenidae), endemic to the Gulf of California. Fisheries Research 86(203):136-142.

Rojas-Bracho, L. & Taylor, B.L. 2017. Phocoena sinus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species2017: e.T17028A50370296. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T17028A50370296.en.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2005. Accessed 2019 Apr 8 https://www.fws.gov/budget/