132 - Controlling and monitoring trade in croaker swim bladders to protect target croakers and reduce incidental catches of threatened marine megafauna

132 - Controlling and monitoring trade in croaker swim bladders to protect target croakers and reduce incidental catches of threatened marine megafauna

Latest version in this language: Version as sent to Plenary (corrected) | Published on: 03 Oct 2021

AWARE that the increasing demand for swim bladders (or maws) of the Vulnerable totoaba croaker (Totoaba macdonaldi) is the primary factor driving a gillnet fishery in the upper Gulf of California that threatens not only the totoaba but has also resulted in the imminent extinction of the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) due to incidental catch, and that similar demand for the maws from other large croaker species may threaten target species and exacerbate the risk of incidental catches of many other globally threatened marine megafauna including small cetaceans, sharks, rays, and marine turtles;

RECALLING that Resolution 6.017 Actions to avert the extinction of the vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus) (Hawai‘i, 2016) expressed concern that the demand for and illegal trade in totoaba swim bladders drive fisheries that kill vaquitas, yet these fisheries continue unabated and the vaquita population has declined from about 60 individuals in 2016, when Resolution 6.017 was adopted, to only about 10 individuals in 2021;

RECALLING Resolution 19.61 By-Catch of Non-Target Species (Buenos Aires, 1994) which expressed concern that bycatch threatens the vaquita’s survival, Resolution 7.023 Reducing impacts of incidental capture on threatened marine species (Marseille, 2020) which expressed concern that that even small-scale fisheries are cumulatively adding substantial pressure to marine species, and Resolution 6.021 that called for Monitoring and management of unselective, unsustainable and unmonitored (UUU) fisheries (Hawai‘i, 2016);

NOTING recent news from Bangladesh, India, Papua New Guinea and French Guiana (France) indicating that very high prices are being paid for croaker (family Sciaenidae) maws for export, leading to concerns about impacts on the target croaker populations as well as on Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered marine megafauna bycaught incidentally in the gillnet fisheries for croakers; and

CONCERNED that the demand for croakers may also be increasing in other areas of the world resulting in intensifying small-scale fisheries, particularly gillnets, that threaten vulnerable croakers and many globally threatened marine megafauna, including small cetaceans, sharks, rays and marine turtles, already facing a high risk of extinction from incidental capture and other factors such as pollution and climate change, as well as contributing to the overexploitation of coastal fisheries vital to local livelihoods, food security and national economies;

The IUCN World Conservation Congress, at its session in Marseille, France:

1. REQUESTS the Director General and the Species Survival Commission (SSC) to:

a. by 2023 produce an analysis on the impacts of the demand for and trade in fish maws on croaker species and threatened marine megafauna and evaluate the effectiveness of listing croakers in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); and

b. promote the consideration of incidental catches of marine megafauna in developing effective policies that specifically address this problem as a targeted subset of Resolution 7.027 that urges all IUCN Members to act to reduce the pressure on threatened species from non-selective fishing gears and methods;

2. CALLS ON Members to support the establishment of trade regulations on fish maws through national laws and regulations, and taking account as appropriate of the analysis referred to in paragraph 1.a., to support a potential proposal to list further croaker species highly valued for their maws in CITES Appendix I or II, depending on their conservation status and where the criteria according to CITES Resolution 9.24 (Rev. COP17) are met;

3. URGES Members to document catches of croakers and exports of fish maws from major source countries by volume, species and value as well as incidental catches;

4. REQUESTS the World Customs Organization (WCO) to mandate that harmonised codes be used for fish maw exports and imports at least at the family level; and

5. ENCOURAGES states that support one or more Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable populations or species of marine megafauna known to be caught in fisheries that catch croakers highly valued for their maws, and that are not included in a conservation action or recovery plan which incorporates specific provisions regulating these fisheries, to ban fish maw exports until such conservation action or recovery plans are developed and implemented.

In October 2020, two seizures in Hong Kong of maws from the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) were reported to be worth USD 44 million. This equals slightly more than USD 160,000/kg which is almost three times the price of gold. The astonishing prices paid for the maws of the totoaba, a critically endangered croaker endemic to the upper Gulf of California, follows the dramatic decline of another large croaker, the critically endangered Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis), also due to overexploitation driven by the massive prices paid for its maw. In 2012, one maw from a particularly large bahaba sold in China for almost half a million USD.

Numerous marine megafauna species are caught incidentally and die in fishing gears, particularly in gillnets, targeting high value croakers. For example, the overwhelming threat driving the imminent extinction of the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a Critically Endangered porpoise also endemic to the upper Gulf of California Mexico, is accidental entanglement in gillnets targeting totoabas. A major surge of growth in this illegal fishery, driven by the demand for totoaba maws, coincided with an accelerated decline of vaquitas from almost 600 porpoises in 1997 to about 10 porpoises in 2021.

The catastrophic situation faced by the vaquita adds urgency to addressing the impacts of the demand for fish maws on marine megafauna in other areas of the world. A study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) found that a single croaker can sell in Bangladesh for 300,000 to 500,000 BDT (USD 3,500 to 6,250). They also highlighted records from Hong Kong Customs that 42,650, 29,361 and 29,356 kg of fish maw were imported from Bangladesh in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively, representing about 2,000 tons of croakers and other high value fishes caught over a three-year period.

Between June 2015 and March 2018, a citizen science network established by WCS among gillnetters in Bangladesh documented 137 catches of 2,301 croakers with sharks caught in 19%, marine turtles in 8%, and rays in 3% of the net sets. Of priority conservation concern was catches of 125 Critically Endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) in six net sets. The spatial distribution of croaker catches also overlapped with priority habitat for Endangered Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) and Vulnerable finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocoenoides) and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis), species known to be caught incidentally and killed in these nets.

A study funded by the Save Our Seas Foundation in Papua New Guinea found in 2019 that Critically Endangered and Endangered sawfishes (family Pristidae), guitarfishes (family Rhinobatidae) and wedgefishes (family Rhinidae) are increasingly being caught in gillnet fisheries that target croakers for their maws for export.

Current understanding of the global fish maw trade is still limited. However, it is almost certainly having a major impact on the target croaker species, as evidenced by the Critically Endangered status of the bahaba in China and totoaba in Mexico, as well as globally threatened marine megafauna, as evidenced by the imminent extinction of the vaquita and Critically Endangered status of scalloped hammerhead sharks.
  • Association Française du Fonds Mondial pour la Nature - France [France]
  • Association of Zoos and Aquariums [United States of America]
  • Australian Marine Conservation Society [Australia]
  • Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Arizona State University [United States of America]
  • Center for Biological Diversity [United States of America]
  • Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Océanos A.C [Mexico]
  • Coastal Oceans Research and Development - Indian Ocean (East Africa) [Kenya]
  • Faunam A.C./PG7 [Mexico]
  • Natural Resources Defense Council [United States of America]
  • Wereld Natuur Fonds - Nederland [The Netherlands]
  • Wildlands Conservation Trust [South Africa]
  • Wildlife Conservation Society [United States of America]
  • WildTeam [Bangladesh]
  • World Wide Fund for Nature - Hong Kong [China]
  • World Wide Fund for Nature - International [Switzerland]

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