啥鱼这么金贵？7 charged with smuggling fish bladders to Ch# ebiz - 电子商务
F*n
1 楼
一个鱼肚最高两万美金？529个得多少钱？这比打印机，电脑值钱多了，果子都没的比。
http://news.yahoo.com/7-charged-smuggling-fish-bladders-china-1
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Seven people have been charged with smuggling bladders
from an endangered fish in what authorities said Wednesday may be a growing
international practice in which the bladders are sold for up to $20,000 each
to be used in a highly desired soup.
U.S. border inspectors in Calexico have seized 529 bladders since February
that they believe were destined for China and Hong Kong. The probe began
when an inspector spotted about 30 bladders buried in an ice chest.
The bladders came from totoaba fish that live exclusively in Mexico's Sea of
Cortez. Also known as Mexican giant bass or giant croaker, the fish can
measure up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds. The cream-colored,
leathery bladders alone measure up to 3 feet.
The fish are captured with gillnets when they migrate in the spring to the
shallow waters in the northern Sea of Cortez, authorities said. The gas-
filled bladders, which keep the fish buoyant, are removed and taken to stash
houses along the border, with the fish carcasses left to rot on gulf shores
near the tourist town of San Felipe.
The totoaba has been protected under the Convention on International Trade
and Endangered Species since 1976 and was added to the U.S. Endangered
Species Act in 1979. Fishing is also prohibited in Mexico.
The totoaba population began to plummet in the 1940s after construction of
the Hoover Dam in the U.S. limited the flow of Colorado River water into
Mexico. Totoaba spawned near the mouth of the river.
Heavy fishing and inadvertent capture of young fish in shrimp nets also
exacerbated the decline.
Just as shark fins are coveted for use in a different soup, the totoaba is
desired for its meat but even more for its dried bladders. The organs used
in fish maw soup are tasteless but are said to improve skin, blood
circulation and fertility.
The soup is also made with bladders of other fish, including sturgeon and
bahaba, an endangered fish from the south coast of China.
The seven defendants were charged in four separate complaints with unlawful
trade in wildlife.
Jason Xie, 49, of Sacramento was accused of taking delivery of 169 bladders
on March 30 in a hotel parking lot in Calexico, about 120 miles east of San
Diego. Xie told investigators he was paid $1,500 to $1,800 for each of 100
bladders in February.
Anthony Sanchez Bueno, 34, of Imperial was charged with the same crime after
authorities said he drove the 169 bladders across the downtown Calexico
border crossing in three coolers. He told investigators he was to be paid $
700.
Song Zhen, 73, was accused of storing 214 dried totoaba bladders in his
Calexico home.
"These were rooms that didn't have furnishings," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy
said. "In every room, fish bladders were dried out over cardboard and papers
."
Xie's attorney, Gerald McFadden, didn't immediately respond to messages
seeking comment. Court records didn't list attorneys for Sanchez Bueno or
Zhen.
Investigators believe U.S. citizens are transporting the bladders to Los
Angeles then to China, said John Reed, a group supervisor for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit.
He said the fish are being caught illegally by the hundreds, suggesting the
species could be coming back after years of careful breeding by Mexican
researchers.
"It sounds like a substantial amount of them are going from Mexico directly
to China but then we've also been seeing a large number being smuggled into
the U.S.," Reed said.
http://news.yahoo.com/7-charged-smuggling-fish-bladders-china-1
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Seven people have been charged with smuggling bladders
from an endangered fish in what authorities said Wednesday may be a growing
international practice in which the bladders are sold for up to $20,000 each
to be used in a highly desired soup.
U.S. border inspectors in Calexico have seized 529 bladders since February
that they believe were destined for China and Hong Kong. The probe began
when an inspector spotted about 30 bladders buried in an ice chest.
The bladders came from totoaba fish that live exclusively in Mexico's Sea of
Cortez. Also known as Mexican giant bass or giant croaker, the fish can
measure up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds. The cream-colored,
leathery bladders alone measure up to 3 feet.
The fish are captured with gillnets when they migrate in the spring to the
shallow waters in the northern Sea of Cortez, authorities said. The gas-
filled bladders, which keep the fish buoyant, are removed and taken to stash
houses along the border, with the fish carcasses left to rot on gulf shores
near the tourist town of San Felipe.
The totoaba has been protected under the Convention on International Trade
and Endangered Species since 1976 and was added to the U.S. Endangered
Species Act in 1979. Fishing is also prohibited in Mexico.
The totoaba population began to plummet in the 1940s after construction of
the Hoover Dam in the U.S. limited the flow of Colorado River water into
Mexico. Totoaba spawned near the mouth of the river.
Heavy fishing and inadvertent capture of young fish in shrimp nets also
exacerbated the decline.
Just as shark fins are coveted for use in a different soup, the totoaba is
desired for its meat but even more for its dried bladders. The organs used
in fish maw soup are tasteless but are said to improve skin, blood
circulation and fertility.
The soup is also made with bladders of other fish, including sturgeon and
bahaba, an endangered fish from the south coast of China.
The seven defendants were charged in four separate complaints with unlawful
trade in wildlife.
Jason Xie, 49, of Sacramento was accused of taking delivery of 169 bladders
on March 30 in a hotel parking lot in Calexico, about 120 miles east of San
Diego. Xie told investigators he was paid $1,500 to $1,800 for each of 100
bladders in February.
Anthony Sanchez Bueno, 34, of Imperial was charged with the same crime after
authorities said he drove the 169 bladders across the downtown Calexico
border crossing in three coolers. He told investigators he was to be paid $
700.
Song Zhen, 73, was accused of storing 214 dried totoaba bladders in his
Calexico home.
"These were rooms that didn't have furnishings," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy
said. "In every room, fish bladders were dried out over cardboard and papers
."
Xie's attorney, Gerald McFadden, didn't immediately respond to messages
seeking comment. Court records didn't list attorneys for Sanchez Bueno or
Zhen.
Investigators believe U.S. citizens are transporting the bladders to Los
Angeles then to China, said John Reed, a group supervisor for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit.
He said the fish are being caught illegally by the hundreds, suggesting the
species could be coming back after years of careful breeding by Mexican
researchers.
"It sounds like a substantial amount of them are going from Mexico directly
to China but then we've also been seeing a large number being smuggled into
the U.S.," Reed said.
