An endangered eel has become an unlikely symbol in the global fight against the illegal wildlife trade. And Hong Kong consumers are unwittingly playing a role in its demise.
The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is under threat due to overexploitation fuelled by increased demand from Asia, in particular China and Japan, where it is considered a delicacy and aphrodisiac.
Stocks of baby European eels, known as glass eels because of their transparent bodies, have dropped 90 per cent in the past 30 years, largely due to the illegal trade, which sees them smuggled in suitcases or hidden in seafood cargo flights from Europe to Asia, where they are grown to maturity on eel farms. The trade is worth about US$3.7 billion a year, according to Europe’s Sustainable Eel Group.
The species is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is also listed by the Cites international convention on trade in endangered species, resulting in strict national catch quotas.
But measures to protect the species have slipped through the net.
A University of Hong Kong (HKU) study released last month found that European eel was being commonly sold in the city, raising concerns about the enforcement of Cites regulations.
Based on DNA testing and published in Science Advances, the study found that almost half (45 per cent) of retail eel products ranging from fillets to snack items from supermarkets and convenience stores across all districts were derived from the critically endangered species. The products were labelled only as eel.
The study suggests that smuggling networks trafficking the eels are interwoven with local supplier chains.
The eels confiscated by customs are the live glass eels and those that evade customs are grown out in farms in China and then processed and packaged as eel’ and then reimported and sold on local shelves through legal means. This is laundering, says the study’s lead author, David Baker.
Importers, suppliers and retailers must ensure endangered species are not sold in their outlets, says Jovy Chan Yuet-shan, WWF Hong Kong’s manager of wildlife conservation, adding that the study results are alarming.
They need to identify traceability of the seafood product to ensure there’s no laundering of illegal, unregulated and unreported seafood products in the supply chain, she says, adding WWF is working with supermarkets to ensure there is no European eel on the shelves.
SCMP.com