Two organizations, Elephant Action League (EAL) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), have conducted comprehensive undercover investigations into the illegal trade in totoaba swim bladders. These investigations provide crucial information to law enforcement agencies, theoretically allowing these agencies to take action to shut down these illegal supply chains. Remember – it is this illegal supply chain for totoaba swim bladders that is driving the extinction of the vaquita.
Our Wild Lens crew has been in close communication with representatives from both of these organizations since they began looking into the trade in totoaba swim bladders, and they have uncovered some fascinating information. These investigations showed the public the role that the Mexican drug cartels are playing in this supply chain, as well as the role of organized crime in China. Specific information about individuals and organizations involved in this illegal trade has at this point been shared with law enforcement authorities in Mexico, the US, and China.
Dried totoaba swim bladder for sale at a shop in China. Image courtesy of EIA.
While it’s impossible to know what role this information has had in ongoing law enforcement efforts related to totoaba trafficking, there was a significant arrest made soon after Elephant Action League released their investigation report. The individual widely believed to be the kingpin of the totoaba trafficking ring in San Felipe, Mexico, Oscar Parra, was arrested just a couple months ago. Oscar Parra was already being sought after by Mexican authorities for the murder of a Mexican Navy officer, but it’s possible that EAL’s report provided key information, or that it just added pressure on law enforcement authorities to take action.
Although Oscar Parra currently sits in jail awaiting trial, our contacts in San Felipe tell us that everything is business as usual in the upper gulf. Oscar’s brother almost immediately stepped in to take over control of the “totoaba cartel”, and the illegal supply chain for totoaba swim bladders has remained in tact. So it seems unlikely that this high profile arrest will have any significant impact on the vaquita.
Although it difficult to imagine Mexican law enforcement agencies doing anything comprehensive to thwart the illegal supply chain for totoaba swim bladders (due to rampant and widespread corruption), there is an opportunity for Chinese law enforcement agencies to take action. Almost all of the totoaba swim bladders entering China go through the port of Hong Kong because the likelihood of imported products being inspected is so low. Were this issue to be made a priority, it’s possible that this supply chain could be interrupted.
Totoaba swim bladder for sale at a shop in China. Image courtesy of EIA.
Unfortunately the likelihood of this happening appears to be quite low. Swim bladders from many different species of fish are imported to China via Hong Kong in extraordinary quantities. “Fish maw”, as this product is commonly referred to, is extremely common throughout China – it’s used for a variety of medicinal purposes and as a thickener in soups. The vast majority of fish maw imported to China is perfectly legal, and inspectors would need to be trained to identify the swim bladders of totoaba from those of other species of fish.