Seahorses

Seahorse populations are being over-exploited to supply a rapidly growing trade for traditional Chinese medicine and its derivatives, aquarium pets, souvenirs and curios. At least 20 million seahorses were captured annually from the wild in the early 1990s; in Asia alone, annual consumption was estimated at 45 metric tons (16 million seahorses) in the 1980s and early 1990s. The trade is thought to have declined in 1998 and 1999 due to the Asian economic crisis, and then increased to as much as 70 metric tons in 2000.

• Approximately 23 of the 32 described seahorse species are harvested through directed fisheries and also as bycatch in non-selective trawl fisheries;
  
• Seahorse populations are thought to have declined by 25-75% between 1990 and 1995 in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and possibly other Indo-Pacific countries where these animals are under heavy fishing pressure to supply international markets;
  
• Qualitative and quantitative assessments suggest that H. comes, H. barbouri and H. spinosissimus, H. ingens, H. erectus, and H. reidi are under the greatest threat from unsustainable levels of harvest and international trade; and
  
• In addition to the large, highly prized specimens that were exclusively harvested in past decades, a substantial proportion of the trade today consists of previously undesirable, small seahorses.

Because of the risk of localized extinction and the high degree of fragmentation exhibited by some species due to overfishing, habitat loss, and bycatch in shrimp and scallop trawls, there has been increasing recognition of the need to protect remaining populations and recover depleted species. The United States developed a listing proposal for all species of seahorses, which was presented during the 12th Conference of Parties (COP-12; November 2002, Chile) of CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species). The proposal to list all 32 species of seahorses in Appendix II of CITES was adopted. The implementation of the listing was delayed for 18 months to allow countries sufficient time to develop management approaches, monitoring programs, identification materials, and identify appropriate size limits to ensure a legal and sustainable seahorse trade under CITES.

Since seahorses are traded in very large numbers, there are gaps in the management and monitoring programs, and there is limited information on the status of populations and the extent of fishing pressure in many countries, it was felt that implementation of the listing would require significant work by source countries, the CITES Animals and Nomenclature Committees, the World Trade Organization, academia, and the non-governmental community. Most of the current seahorse exports are coming from a relatively few countries, and these countries lack financial and technical resources necessary to develop and implement National management plans. Thus, one of the critical steps in conserving seahorses requires strengthened collaboration and cooperation with these and other countries to identify practical management approaches and assist in implementing monitoring, management and enforcement programs.

As one step to address conservation and management needs for sea horses, Mexico and the United States convened the International Workshop on CITES Implementation for Seahorse Conservation and Trade on February 3-5, 2004 in Mazatlan, Sinaloa (Mexico) to provide a venue to share information on management and monitoring strategies for seahorse fisheries, and other aspects involved in the implementation of the recent listing in Appendix II of CITES.

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