1 of 1 Totoabas in Mexico. 2017. — Photo: AFP PHOTO/SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY Totoabas in Mexico. 2017. — Photo: AFP PHOTO/SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY
The Sea of Cortez in northern Mexico is a biodiversity paradise. But the illegal capture of the totoaba, a fish prized in China, is endangering this species as well as the manatee, a similarly sized marine mammal. Across the Pacific, wealthy Asian customers shell out thousands of dollars to eat totoaba bubble for its alleged but never proven healing properties. An illegal trade that goes unpunished and threatens the local fauna.
On the black market, the price of the totoaba crop even exceeds that of cocaine, making it a luxury commodity in the international black market. The Chinese, the main customers of this secret and devastating market, attribute magical properties to the bladder of this fish and also flaunt the product as a social token of wealth.
“The totoaba is a fish found only in the Gulf of California, particularly concentrated in the northern part of the peninsula. These fish are also known as ‘grunts’ because of the noise they make. They are also caught for their meat because they are fish, up to two meters long and wide, that are displayed as fish trophies in the US,” explains Alejandro Olivera, representative of the North American NGO Center for Biological Diversity based in California, which advocates for uses the protection of this species.
“Now the species is also hunted for another reason,” says the expert. “They have an organ called ‘swimming bladder’, which guarantees their ability to swim on the surface or balance at depth. Luxury product of Asian countries. That’s why it’s so sought after,” explains the activist.
“sea cocaine”
In view of the decline in the species’ population, the capture of totoaba was banned entirely in 1975. Since then, this activity has become a lucrative business for a mafia network, the socalled Cartel do Mar, as noted by Belgian journalist Hugo Von Offel, author of the documentary “The Godfather of the Oceans”, which was broadcast on French television in April and investigated the trade in totoaba, dubbed “the cocaine of the sea” by Mexican cartels.
“The Sinaloa cartel dealers catch the totoaba and sell them for $3,000 or $4,000 a kilo. The bladder weighs about a kilo. To give you an idea, a kilo of shrimp costs between $15 and $10. So totoaba is a product that changes their lives: They sell it for $3,000 or $4,000 to a cartel agent, who then puts it in a freezer to cross the desert and the border to Tijuana, for example, and from the United States to China sell states, by plane,” explains von Offel.
“Once in China, the totoaba bubble is worth as much as $50,000 per kilo. This is more than cocaine. Obviously the cartel will not pass up this opportunity; just as it was involved in drug, arms and human trafficking, he is now involved in the totoaba trade and they have taken that trade under their control. However, there is a very dangerous ongoing war between the Sinaloa cartel and other criminal groups who also want to profit from this business,” says the expert.
extinction of two species
This business, which is contributing to the extinction of two species, goes unpunished. According to a media consortium, the Mexican justice system tried 42 cases of totoaba trafficking between 2012 and 2021. Of these, only two cases resulted in convictions. Oscar Parra, the alleged leader of the sea cartel, has been jailed since 2018 but has yet to be sentenced.
Fighting illegal fishing can be dangerous: environmental inspectors were attacked in 2014. Hunting human traffickers is complicated because many of them blame Mexican authorities, reports Hugo Van Offel. According to the Belgian journalist, “there is a mysterious man who we know is involved in human trafficking in China, but also in the falsification of official documents”.
“However, many sources believe he now lives in Tijuana and controls several restaurants, including in California, which are very difficult to find, and has managed to evade investigations in China. But when he traded a large amount of Totoabas, his name popped up: Jungchan Wu. He’s still a fugitive from justice who issued an arrest warrant through Interpol. Jungchan could be hiding in Mexico with the complicity of local authorities,” von Offel argued.
Punishment?
The capture of thousands of tons of totoaba prompted experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to classify this species as critically endangered. In 2021, Totoaba became vulnerable according to a new population estimate.
The Mexican government insists on its good will to fight the totoaba trade. But in 2021, experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature spotted 117 fishing boats in the Sea of Cortez marine reserve in a single day. And on February 2nd, the NGO Sea Shepherd discovered 30 vessels fishing with prohibited nets.
In late March this year, Mexico was sanctioned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) for failing to prevent illegal fishing for totoaba. As a result of these sanctions, the country is losing export licenses for dozens of species of wild animals and plants.