Aquatic Cocaine Totoab 'Aquatic cocaine

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'Aquatic cocaine': Fish bladders are latestMexican smuggling commodity

Updated 1409 GMT (2209 HKT) May 23, 2016

By Kyung Lah and Alberto Moya, CNN

Story highlights

Totoaba fish bladders are prized for their

supposed benefits to health and beauty

Smugglers in Mexico are threatening the

species and another fish often caught in the

nets

(CNN) — Jonathan Garcia Pereda snapped a photo,the contraband glowing white in his smartphone.Mexican federal police had stopped a 28-year-oldman from San Felipe at a checkpoint, discoveringblack plastic bags balled up in the tires. It appearedto be another familiar bust to the Mexican police,until they cut open the bags.

One hundred twenty-one fish swim bladders laybefore Garcia Pereda on the concrete floor, most ofthem white, some with shades of pink. The smell offish guts was overwhelming, a stench Garcia Pereda

never grew accustomed to, even as he went from bust after bust of the illegal smuggling. This was ahuge haul of "aquatic cocaine": 39 kilos of totoaba fish swim bladders, with a Hong Kong street value of$750,000. Not quite as big as a recent bust, thought Garcia Pereda, where they'd stopped 600bladders from getting across the U.S.-Mexico border, flowing eventually to China.

These swim bladders were large, all from totoababass at least 30 years old. Garcia Pereda, a

representative from PROFEPA, Mexico's version ofthe Environmental Protection Agency, knew thisbust was barely a dent in the multibillion-dollarinternational black market, robbing Mexico of itsendangered species.

Garcia Pereda leaned down to snap anotherpicture, wondering how Chinese buyers could payso much for an irrelevant part of a fish. Most of all,he wondered even with all the efforts by theMexican government, the Mexican navy andinternational environmental activists, if they could

stop a seemingly insatiable and bizarre appetite forthe dying species' bladder.

The market

These seized fish bladders are worth

thousands of dollars on the black

market.

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"It's the best of the best. It makes one more beautiful," the shop owner said in Mandarin, holding up apicture of

dried totoaba bladder. "You can oil it or put it in a stew," he continued. The middle-ageseafood shop owner pointed to the picture and said it would cost about $100,000 U.S.

The totoaba's swim bladder is the priciest dried fish item in Sheung Wan, a neighborhood in HongKong. In a cluster of shops on a street commonly known to tourists and locals as Dried Seafood Street,exotic dried fare sit in giant tubs and glass jars, promising a variety of cures to a number of health

ailments.

Shops have entire sections displaying dozens of types of fish bladders, ranging from $100 U.S. tothousands of dollars. Chinese culture has long believed fish bladder is rich in collagen, improving skintexture and maintaining youthful-looking skin.

Few items are as desired as the totoaba bladder,what one shopkeeper called the "Mercedes-Benz"of dried fish, referring to its cost. The high pricecomes from the tototaba's scarcity. It exists only inthe most northernmost section of the Sea of Cortezin Mexico, in a quiet reserve called the Gulf of

California. The totoaba is the only fish bladder onthe market that has two unusual-looking tentaclesthat stretch the length of the bladder, giving it aunique and otherworldly appearance.

The totoaba is also endangered, placed oninternational endangered species lists since the1970s. Commercial fishing first took its toll on thespecies, and now a new threat ravages theremaining fish: Chinese demand.

Hong Kong bans the sale of totoaba, because it's an endangered species. Perhaps the Hong Kong

shop owner holding the picture was thinking of the law: Two weeks ago, he said he could sell totoaba.But on this second visit, he quoted the $100,000 price and urged us to shop elsewhere.

At another store, a merchant pledged totoaba will help ease achy joints and soft tissues. Therecommended way to ingest it? "Soup." The only way to buy it? A lot of money.

The source

The Russian-made helicopter lifted off the groundof the Mexican naval base at San Felipe, a fishingvillage in Mexico's Baja California. Aboard thehelicopter were nearly a dozen sailors, somearmed with semiautomatic rifles. The choppermade its way from dusty flatlands to the pristineblue waters of the Sea of Cortez. Just a few clicksnorth of San Felipe, the Colorado River meets theGulf of California, where freshwater flows into thesea.

The totoaba fish bladder is

distinguished by two tentacles.

The fish bladders are smuggled

through North America toward Asia.





It's here, 5,019 square miles of the gulf, that ishome to the totoaba's nursery and spawninghabitat. The Mexican military flies twice a day overthis nursery, patrolling for poachers. Mexico'sgovernment declared this area and 400 miles ofcoastline a protected habitat and off-limits to allfishing.

But money is a more potent draw than the fear ofarrest, with poachers making as much money fromthe bladders as they do from cocaine. That poundfor pound profit is why observers dub the totoababladder "aquatic cocaine."

Shortly after taking off, the pilot spots a giant net inthe protected coastline. It's is an illegal totoaba net,hidden until poachers can drop the 2 kilometer-

long net in the gulf to trap totoaba.

Nine sailors, heaving and sweating, pull the heavy net aboard the chopper. The captain of the missionlifts a corner of the net. "The holes are 12 inches wide," he said. "It's used specifically to fish totoabaillegally. The head gets stuck, and it suffocates. It's dangerous to the totoaba, but it's also the main killerof the vaquita."

The vaquita is another, more critically endangeredmarine animal. It looks like a small dolphin, itsmouth curling up in a semi-permanent smile. Likefor the totoaba, the Gulf of California is its breedingground and nursery. And like the totoaba, this gulfis the only place in the world where it exists. It alsohas the extreme misfortune of being the same size

as the totoaba: Its head fits perfectly in the illegalnets. The vaquita has no financial value to thepoachers, but as by-catch, it is now on the verge ofextinction.

On April 13, NOAA Fisheries, along with aninternational group of scientists, released a reportto Mexico's minister of the environment and naturalresources saying that only 60 vaquitas remain inthe Gulf of California. The scientists say that

number represents a decline of more than 92% since 1997. At this pace, the report says, the vaquitaspecies will be extinct in five years.

The scientists urged Mexico's government to continue with direct action against the poachers so boththe totoaba and vaquita survive. It is a call, for now, that the government is hearing.

In the air, the navy has one airplane and one helicopter launching twice a day.

On the ground, six drug-sniffing dogs, once trained to locate cocaine, now sit at three checkpointsleading out of the protected area, inspecting 250 cars and 300 people a day.

Helicopters are used to spot evidence

of smugglers in the Gulf of California.

A totoaba that died caught in a

smuggler's net.





On the water, six boats and a larger naval vessel patrol the protected area of the Gulf of California,both at day and at night, when poachers are most active. All this is part of a national effort costing thegovernment millions of dollars.

The effort may seem massive, but the lure of the black market carries a financial potency that's provingdifficult to stop.

The fishermenJorge Garcia sat on the back of his truck, selling fish filets and shrimp to tourists wandering theboardwalk in San Felipe. He looked out at the water, disgusted that his two boats are not doing whatGarcia was raised to do: fish big game like totoaba.

"We're being punished," he said. "Young fishermen from out of town are coming in, fishing illegally inthe water, making tons of money."

Garcia, his skin tanned, thickened and coarsely lined from decades on fishing boats, motioned tohimself sitting on the truck. "But I can't fish."

Garica said he's participating in a government program that is paying him to not fish in the protectedvaquita and totoaba sanctuary. The government promised him $3,100 U.S. a month, but he says theactual payout was closer to $2,000 U.S. One totoaba bladder, Garcia reminded us, would be doublethe government's monthly incentive to not fish.

"I understand what the government is doing," said Garica. "But they're not stopping it. The illegal fishinghappens at night. There's too much money involved."

Garcia was baffled when he learned the swimbladders were being used as an anti-aging productin Hong Kong, eaten as a soup. Garcia, who grewup eating totoaba, said, "If it really worked forbeauty, I should be beautiful by now. Instead, lookat me."

The Mexican government knows it has an uphillclimb stopping the illegal fishing.

PROFEPA's Garcia Pereda, having been a part ofnumerous totoaba busts, watched as the sailors

pulled up an illegal net in the vaquita and totoabasanctuary. The naval officer told Garcia Peredathey're still pulling up nine nets a day. Trapped inthis net was a totoaba, probably 20 years old. Ithad not been dead long; its swim bladder was stillintact.

"We watch this place 24 hours a day, and it's sad to see that this still happens despite all our efforts," hesaid.

The fish bladders are thought to

promote health and beauty when

eaten.





The fishermen pull the bladders, roll them into small packages and move them north. "Like ants,"Garcia Pereda said. "They move them in small quantities, bit by bit. They're smuggled. They're put oncommercial flights and commercial shipping companies where they make their way into Shanghai,Hong Kong, often through the United States or Japan."

A San Felipe fisherman has no ties to China, that's clear, said Garcia Pereda. But he wouldn't detailwhether the transnational crime originates with the Mexican cartels. "It's obvious that to get this product

abroad, we're dealing with some sort of organized groups. We just can't say if it's specifically organizedcrime."

Garcia Pereda knows from his experience in the Mexican government that there's one rule in dealingwith illegal contraband: "If there's a market for it, there will always be those who will disobey the law."

The most trafficked mammal you've never heard of

The environmentalists"Ready, go!" Dan Villa, his arms stretched straight above his head, released his grip on the droneagainst the night sky.

"Heading to the target," said Roy Sasano, flying the drone out a mile and a half from the Sea Shepherdvessel.

"Anything yet?" quizzed Villa, peering over Sasano's shoulder at the night-vision camera from the drone.Water stretched from either side of the camera's frame. Villa is the campaign leader of OperationMilagro, Spanish for "miracle," the latest mission for environmental activist group Sea Shepherd.

Sea Shepherd is best known globally for its directaction against Japan's whaling in the Antarctic,engaging the whaling fleet boldly at sea. It's a levelof direct confrontation rarely seen on theenvironmental activist stage, but just one of thegroup's many campaigns around the world.

In the Gulf of California, Sea Shepherd is working inconjunction with the Mexican government to haltthe poaching, often calling the navy for help inarresting poachers or pulling up giant nets.

"We see pangas here," Villa said, referring to theboats the fishermen use. "They cast their netsillegally where there's no fishing. We motortowards them, and since they're doing illegalactivities, they always flee." The crew aboard theSea Shepherd vessel, dubbed the Farley Mowat,marks the spot where the drone spots thefishermen and return at daybreak to retrieve anynet left behind.

The Sea Shepherd is an environmentalgroup's ship fighting fish bladder

smuggling.





"I see something," said Sasano, the drone getting

closer to the target.

Sasano, a former member of the Canadian navy,

slowed the drone. Get too close, and the fishermen

bolt before the drone's camera can capture and

record what they're doing.

The fishermen spot the drone, appear to drop

something over the side of the boat and speed off.

The crew marked the location and continued the

dark hunt. The team spotted six more illegal fishing boats, all which zoomed away.

"I think it's a fight," said Katja Walther, a deckhand on the vessel. "I think it's a battle that we're fighting.

It's just one of those lies that people consume. We're seeing a decline of species here and it's tragic."

Biologist Benjamin Sawicki, also a Sea Shepherd crew member, is one of the few humans who has

seen a vaquita. He was perched on the top of the Farley Mowat when he saw a vaquita's dorsal fin

slowly surface.

"They're so few of them, people's attitudes now locally and sometimes in the conservation world are

that there are not enough animals worth saving. We're not looking at just protecting the vaquita or the

totoaba. If the whole system doesn't work, we're a part of the whole system. Eventually it affects us as

well."

The reality of the poaching for the Sea Shepherd

crew is palpable when they spot a frequent sight:

dead totoaba floating. The Farley Mowat crew

pulled up a partially decomposed totoaba. It had

been cut open.

"On the inside here right behind near the spine is

its swim bladder," said crew member Adam

Conniss. "You can see there's no swim bladder."

Poachers tossed the carcass back into the sea, the

fish without any value after the removal of the swim

bladder.

It's quietly infuriating to Villa, who has been with

Sea Shepherd for more than 10 years, on

campaigns around the world. "Every species that

we lose is a blow to the fragile ecosystem that

sustains life on this planet," said Villa. "Every other breath you take comes from the oceans. And if theoceans die, we die."

CNN's Yuli Yang and Stella Ko contributed to this report.

Dan Villa aboard the Sea Shepherd.

15 photos: Endangered no more: Animal

species on the rebound

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