Advancing marine conservation
Collecting marine organisms for the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals has been perceived variously as sustaining and threatening conservation. Our initial expectations that marine bioprospecting might pose conservation challenges were largely not confirmed. Thousands of marine species have been collected for initial assessment, but usually only in very small amounts. Very few compounds are sufficiently …
Grey, M., Blais, A.-M., Hunt, B. and A.C.J. Vincent. 2006. The United States of America’s international trade in fish leather, from a conservation perspective. Environmental Conservation 33(2):100-108.
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Catch monitoring and surveys were used to assess the seahorse trade in Vietnam. Despite low daily catch rates, potentially 6.5 t of dried seahorses (∼2.2 million seahorses) were taken annually as bycatch by trawlers operating out of five coastal provinces of Vietnam. Individual seahorse catches were collated by a few local buyers, who supplied wholesalers …
Management tools are needed to help regulate the international trade in seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora. Given the limited understanding of seahorse population dynamics and fishing mortality, a single minimum size limit for all seahorse species appears to be a useful initial …
Seahorses (genus Hippocampus) are traded globally for use in traditional medicines, souvenirs and as aquarium fishes. Indications that the trade was expanding geographically in response to increasing demand in consuming nations prompted this first study of the seahorse trade in Latin America. In 2000, over 400 people related to the seahorse trade in Mexico, Central …
The curio trade in marine fishes has not previously been quantitatively analysed. As a contribution towards understanding the scale and conservation impact of such trade we summarize import and export data from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for 1997–2001. At least 32 fish species were involved in the USA’s international trade in curios, …
Global seahorse populations (Hippocampus spp.) are under pressure from habitat degradation, accidental capture (bycatch), and direct exploitation. Seahorses are primarily traded for use in traditional Chinese medicine and its derivatives, but they are also sold as dried curiosities and live for ornamental display in aquariums. In 2002, all seahorse species were included on Appendix II …
This chapter focuses on the various ecological issues that are related to the trade of live reef fishes. Well-managed live reef fish fisheries offer an excellent chance for high-value and relatively low-volume trades that could employ many fishers without damaging wild populations, with the income providing strong local incentives to care for marine resources. Similarly, …
FOLLOWING the second Opium War, which ended in 1860, Britain and other colonial powers demanded that China legalise the opium trade. The Chinese refused. In retaliation British troops ransacked the Summer Palace in Beijing. Some of China’s greatest artistic treasures were destroyed. Echoes of this historic clash reverberate in contemporary confrontations between conservationists and the …
Pegasid fishes (sea moths) have only entered the arsenal of traditional Chinese medicine within the past few decades, but are now used in southern China and Hong Kong to treat respiratory ailments and cancers. Brief trade surveys suggest that millions of individuals of two pegasid species are used each year, and that they cost relatively …