We return to searching for clues in the catch and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam

2 March 2018 Lily StantonSeahorses, Trade

By Lily Stanton and Do Huu Hoang
(Part two of a three part series, a photo essay)

After discovering that more than 2 million seahorses were landed annually as bycatch by the many trawl boats operating in Vietnamese waters in the late 1990s, we (Project Seahorse) returned to uncover what, if anything, has changed in the catch and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam.

Our seahorse trade detective – our colleague, Dr. Do Huu Hoang from Viet Nam’s Institute of Oceanography – set out to interview those involved in seahorse trade across Viet Nam from November 2016 to January 2017. Despite some challenges (bad storms and significant holidays), Hoang travelled to over 20 different fishing ports, villages and cities and interviewed more than 146 people (fishers, buyers and aquaculturists) in eight Provinces.

Hoang asked the fishers many questions, including: What type of boat or fishing gear did they use? How many numbers of days in a year did they spent fishing? How many seahorses did they catch, on average? How, and where, did they sell their seahorses? What was the going price for seahorse? What were their thoughts on the changes in the size or number of seahorses they have caught over the years? Similarly, Hoang asked the buyers: where did they receive their supply of seahorses from? How, and where, did they sell the seahorses, and at what price? Finally, Hoang asked the aquaculturists: What species, and how many seahorses, did they bred in their facility? Where did they receive their initial supply of seahorses from? Where were their seahorses sold?

Seahorses enter a complicated system of trade from fishers to various levels of buyers and/or traders. By piecing together information from a number of different sources, we have been able to create a fuller, more accurate picture of the true catch and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam. More on that in part three of our blog, but in the meantime here are some images, taken by Hoang during his time in the field, which provide a glimpse into the life of a seahorse trade detective.

Many colourful trawl boats dotting the shores of Mui Ne, Binh Thuan Province. These large vessels fish both shallow and deeper waters using trawling gear or crab nets to target fish, crab or shrimp. Our research in the 1990’s estimated that over 2.2 million seahorses per year were landed as bycatch using these types of fishing gears.

Baskets of bycatch- Fishers sorting through piles of marine life at a trawl landing site in Mui Ne, Binh Thuan Province. Much of this marine life ends up at the local markets and some of it goes to fish sauce processing plants.

Fishers and buyers selling their daily catch on a beach, littered with plastic, in Mui Ne, Binh Thuan Province. A popular weekend getaway from Ho Chi Minh City, local and foreign tourists visit the beaches to buy seahorses and other seafood.

An assortment of dried seahorses and their relatives (from the family Syngnathidae, including pipefish and sea moths) ready to be sold at a local market or shops on Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang Province.

Dr. Do Huu Hoang taking photographs of seahorses ready to be sold in Song Cau, Phu Yen Province. Male and female seahorses are often paired and sold together in souvenir shops.

Our Project Seahorse researcher, Dr. Do Huu Hoang, sitting next to a large basket of dried seahorses in Song Cau, Phu Yen Province. Dr. Hoang interviewed over 146 fishers, buyers and aquaculturists across eight provinces in Viet Nam from November 2016 to January 2017

Tonics made from whole seahorses and other marine organisms are popular and often sold in shops across Viet Nam, like the ones seen in this photo in Song Cau, Phu Yen Province.

Dam Market, located in the bustling city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province, houses a number of shops that sells a large variety of marine products to both locals and tourists. Nha Trang is also home to a large food company that sells medicinal wine made out of bird’s nest, seahorse, ginseng and deer antler.

A tank of live seahorses for sale in one of the many shops in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province. Many shops will sell live seahorses that a customer can purchase and place directly into alcohol. This method is believed to extract the best medicinal properties.

Aquaculture operations in the Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa Province. Culturists began breeding seahorses in 2004/2005. Seahorses are born in captivity, to wild caught parents, and traded internationally for display in aquariums.

A collection of freshly dead or “wet” seahorses from a buyer in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province. Seahorses in Viet Nam are sold either live, wet or dry – with live seahorses obtaining the highest overall price. The price of seahorses can also vary by species, size and colour. Larger and more colourful species are considered more valuable and will acquire the highest price.

All photos by Do Huu Hoang

Three part series
Part One: Searching for clues in the catch and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam
Part Two: We return to searching for clues in the catch and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam: A photo essay.
Part Three: Searching for clues in the catch and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam – Part III

More information
Foster, S.J., L. Aylesworth, H.H. Do, N.K. Bat and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Seahorse exploitation and trade in Viet Nam. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 25(2): 50 pp.

Stocks, A. P., S.J. Foster, N.K. Bat and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Catch as catch can: Targeted and indiscriminate small-scale fishing of seahorses in Vietnam. Fisheries Research 196:27-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2017.07.021

Giles, B.G., S.K. Truong, H.H. Do and A.C.J. Vincent. 2006. The catch and trade of seahorses in Vietnam. Biodiversity and Conservation 15(6):2497-2513.

Meeuwig, J.J., H.H. Do, S.K. Truong, S.D. Job and A.C.J. Vincent. 2006. Quantifying non-target seahorse fisheries in central Vietnam. Fisheries Research 81:149-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2006.07.008

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We return to searching for clues in the catch and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam

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