The mystery of the Algarve’s dwindling seahorse population may be as much due to theft as the State condoned pollution that affects their Ria Formosa breeding grounds.
A Portuguese family from Olhão has been caught red-handed by Spain’s Guadia Civil in possession of more than 2,000 dried seahorses as they were being sold to a couple of dealers from Cadiz.
According to Spanish police, the animals had been captured from sites along the Algarve coast, primarily from their breeding grounds in the Ria Formosa lagoon and would have ended up on the Asian market where the shipment could have fetched up to €20,000.
The serious nature of this environmental crime “cannot be stresses highly enough as this protected area is the largest natural reserve of seahorses in Europe," said biologist Miquel Planas Oliver, one of Spain's leading experts on this delicate creature.
The Portuguese family were caught with 2,133 dry seahorses being transported in three suitcases. The haul weighed 7.12kg and was destined for China where these beautiful creatures are used in quack medicine and sold as aphrodisiacs, despite having no such qualities, and for ornamental purposes.
The father, mother and son, from Olhão were arrested along with the Spanish buyers just as the deal was being done to sell the illegal haul.
Spain’s newspaper, El País claims this to be the largest ever seizure of seahorses by the Guardia Civil.
The increase in the illegal export of seahorses to Asia has put this species at risk of extinction in some parts of the world, including Portugal, with around 25 million killed, dried and dispatched, primarily to Chinese dealers.
The Algarve’s University, together with Project Seahorse, has registered an 85% decline in the local seahorse populations between 2001 and 2009 and things have got worse since then with daily pollution from inadequate sewage systems flowing into the Ria Formosa under the noses of the many and various authorities charged with policing Portugal's environment.
The five detainees, three Portuguese and two Spanish, are accused of "crimes against fauna and flora and the illegal trafficking of an endangered species," according to Carlos Paja, sergeant of the Civil Protection Service of the Civil Guard of Malaga, responsible for the operation.
