Popular as pets and curios, sea horses may end up riding
off into the
proverbial sunset forever if the growing demand for their
use as a
cure for sexual ailments does not die down.
The population of the species is drastically decreasing,
according to
both marine researchers and fishermen in the east of Thailand,
where
the fish is known as plaa jimfan jorakhae, or a ''crocodile's
toothpick".
Among the 35 countries that deal in the sea horse trade,
Thailand is
ranked as one of the top four exporters, along with India,
the
Philippines and Vietnam.
Although exact export figures are unavailable, the total
volume of
sea horse trade worldwide is as many as 20
million creatures a year,
according to a report, The International Trade in Sea
Horses,
released in June.
The report, written by Oxford University researcher Amanda
Vincent,
states that the main importers are China, Taiwan, Hong
Kong and
Japan, where the fish is considered an important
ingredient in traditional
Chinese medicine, the main cause for the increasing demand.
In Thailand whose waters are home to five of the
world's 50 species
trade in sea horses has gone on for at least a decade.
There are
now signs that the fish is endangered and
may become extinct if
conservation measures are not enacted.
Found along coastlines in warm waters, where it uses its
prehensile
tail to grab onto seaweed and feed on small organisms,
the sea horse
is so poorly understood that nobody seems to know what
the impact
will be if the species becomes extinct.
''Nobody knows exactly what will happen if the sea horse
dies out,"
said Dr Chutiwan Dejsakulwatthanam, a scientist at the
Bang Saen
Marine Science Research Institute. ''In principle, it
will affect
marine species like plankton or other animals at the bottom
of the
food chain, and thus affect the marine ecosystem as a
whole.
''Still, there is no study examining its relationship to
the
ecosystem. So we barely understand its significance in
the sea
world," added the scientist. ''Normally, the loss
of a species also means the
loss of an opportunity in terms of biodiversity."
Chutiwan confirmed that the sea horse population is decreasing
drastically, if one judges by the number of samples sent
to the
laboratory. The scientist said that there has been no
study
monitoring the sea horse population in Thailand.
So the decreasing trend is just
a general observation.
But the institute occasionally buys sea horses from local
fishermen
in Chon Buri to do research, and compared with eight
years ago the
number of samples it receives is now quite small,
she said.
Fishermen Som Mangkhara, 27, who works for the Phulsawasdi
fishing
fleet, said that sea horses are a byproduct found in nets
when
fishing.
''We freeze and sell them after we get back to shore,"
he said,
''Small sea horses sell for Bt2 to Bt3 each while the
big ones cost
Bt5 to Bt7 each. So we make about Bt1,200 to Bt3,000 per
kilogramme."
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, sea horses sell for as much as
US$1,200
(Bt30,000) per kilogramme, according to Vincent. In Japan,
a dried
small variety of sea horse costs at least $11.49 while
in Taiwan the
price is about $2.80.
''It's clear that the demand for sea horse is now growing
rapidly,"
said Som. ''Workers on the boat compete with each other
to gather the
sea horses when we lift the nets from the sea."
Another fisherman, Nong Borsuk, said he harvests about
10 to 30 sea
horses per day. The middlemen from Bangkok are always
waiting to buy
it at the pier in the morning, he said.
As there has been no study confirming that sea horses benefit
human
health or help cure sexual dysfunction, their popularity
with
consumers seems to rely solely on faith.
Phennapha Sapcharoen, director of The National Institute
of Thai
Traditional Medicine, said that sea horses are largely
made up of
calcium, so there is very little use for it in the formulae
of
traditional medicines.
''As far as we know, no Thai traditional medicines use
sea horses as
an ingredient. The Chinese use it to help abnormally severe
thirst,
but there is still no confirmation that it has this property,"
she
said.
''I think it is just a matter of people losing confidence
in their
health, so they try every way they can to regain it,"
she added.
Suwanna Wongwatchara, who owns a Chinese traditional drug
store in
Bangkok's Phya Thai district, said that she did not believe
sea
horses have restorative properties, despite her
long experience with
traditional Chinese medicine.
Boonsom, a sidewalk souvenir seller at Bang Saen beach
who sells key
chains made from sea horses, agreed that the animal is
becoming
rarer.
Its cost has doubled in the past two years, she said.
Boonsom buys sea horse from local fishermen at Bt3,000
per kg, which
equals roughly 500 sea horses. A lacquer-covered sea horse
key chain
costs between Bt25 and Bt30 each.
Meanwhile, Dr Chawalit Vidhayanon, a fish expert at the
Fisheries
Department, noted that neither Thai law nor international
treaties
such as the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species
list the sea
horse as a threatened species.
Conserving the species will therefore prove difficult.
In addition,
trying to do so will directly affect the livelihood of
fishermen, he
said.