Millions of seahorses worth $29M smuggled illegally, study finds
Charlotte Lepage
| CBC News | Posted: June 8, 2025 8:00 AM | Last Updated: 3
hours ago
It’s only a fraction of the real scale of the trade, researcher
says
Image | seahorse breeding facility
Caption: UBC researchers spent months looking through public
seahorse seizure records to uncover the scale of the illegal
trade. (Jacqui Herbert)
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Nearly five million smuggled seahorses were seized globally by
authorities over a 10-year period, Canadian researchers found,
warning it's only the "tip of the iceberg" in an illegal trade
that is likely far larger in scale.
To track how widespread the issue is, researchers at the
University of British Columbia pored over public seizure
reports and news stories shared between 2010 and 2021, finding
nearly 300 seizures of seahorses involving 62 different
countries.
In total, the five million seahorses seized were worth an
estimated $29 million ($21 million US), they said in a study
recently published Conservation Biology.
Dried seahorses are often sought for use in traditional
medicine. The most common destinations for them are China and
Hong Kong, the study found, but they can be purchased in Canada
online and in traditional medicine shops.
Embed | Seahorse seizures since 2010
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Because the study's conservative estimates are only drawn from
public records, the "real scale of illegal seahorse trade will
be much bigger," said Sarah Foster, lead author and a
researcher at UBC's Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, who
is also program lead at Project Seahorse, a marine conservation
organization.
While none of the study's publicly reported seizures were in
Canada, 19 "enforcement files" related to seahorses have been
opened since 2020, according to a statement from Environment
and Climate Change Canada. That includes 15 in the Pacific
region, "primarily involving dried seahorses or seahorse-based
products (e.g., traditional medicines or supplements)."
Media Audio | The Early Edition : Millions of seahorses traded
illegally, study finds
Caption: A UBC researcher shares the findings from a study into
the illegal seahorse trade -- a $29 million industry.
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A tangled network
The study also offers details on smuggling methods and the
complexity of smuggling routes, said Foster.
Most seahorse seizures involved passenger luggage in airports,
but the largest volumes were moved by ship, she said. In the
sea cargos, they were often traded alongside other wildlife,
like pangolins, elephant ivory, penguin scales, sea cucumbers
and shark fins.
Embed | Top seahorse trading routes
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"So in devising strategies to find and flag illegal seahorse
trade, authorities will also be helping to address that issue
for other marine and other wildlife species," said Foster.
In one unusual seizure recorded in Vietnam, the seahorses
seemingly came from Peru; but when authorities looked into the
species, they found that they were originally from West Africa.
"These seahorses had gone [from] West Africa, [to] Peru, [and]
Vietnam on their way, purportedly, to eventually end up in
mainland China," she said.
To counter this global trade, governments need to work together
to share information and strategies on how to catch smugglers,
said Foster. And more importantly, she added, guard against the
threat to the species and biodiversity.
Image | 150642481
Caption: Peru's ecological police show seized seahorses in Lima
on Aug. 23, 2012. (Ernesto Benavides/AFP via Getty Images)
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Ripple effect of the trade
Seahorses can be legally traded under rules outlined by the
Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES), an agreement signed by 183 countries,
including Canada.
Exporters are required to have a permit, proving their trade is
monitored, legally sourced and doesn't harm populations.
"Those permits are very, very hard to get," said Max Valentine,
campaign director of illegal fishing and transparency for
Oceana, an international advocacy organization for ocean
conservation.
"Most of this illegal trade is [from] people who are not
catching them with the permits, or with the regulations in
place."
Currently, two seahorse species are considered critically
endangered, and another 13 are considered vulnerable to
extinction, according to the International Union for
Conservation of Nature.
Media Video | CBC News : Endangered seahorses find a home in
underwater hotels
Caption: Frames of biodegradable metal are being installed
underwater off Australia's east coast to provide a home for the
endangered White's Seahorses. The structures will eventually
corrode, leaving a semi-natural reef that will help the wider
ecosystem and give seahorses a chance to recover their species'
population.
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Illegal harvesting has serious repercussions not just on
seahorse populations, but also on the underwater environment as
a whole, said Valentine.
Seahorses are usually caught by bottom trawling — using large,
weighed-down nets dragged across the ocean floor — which
Valentine says is "widely considered one of the most
destructive fishing practices on the planet."
"[The nets] rip up all of the habitat that they come in contact
with," she said. "By the time they've pulled these nets out of
the water, everything is already dead. So we've lost all of
that biomass, all of those organisms from the environment."
Taking seahorses out of the environment also disrupts the food
chain, she said, affecting the populations seahorses feed off
of, and those that eat them, too.
Saving the sea one seahorse at a time
Valentine said when she first heard of this "bombshell"
seahorse smuggling study, she was "shocked and appalled."
"To learn that there's been such a devastating harvest, illegal
harvest of these species … is really disappointing."
By shedding light on the issues seahorses face, the study's
authors say they hope they can bring attention to the broader
threats encountered by marine life.
"People really love seahorses, they capture people's
imagination," said Foster. "We're fond of saying, by saving
seahorses we will save the seas."
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