非法野生动植物贸易已被确定为海马全球贸易的主要来源。《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》于2004年在附录II中列出了海马属,当时一些将这些物种商业化的国家也通过国内立法禁止交易,秘鲁就是其中之一。然而,自从2004年秘鲁颁布禁令以来,交易仍在继续,包括国际贸易,以及没收非法海马海马(Girard1858)产品。作者回顾了三个官方政府来源,以获取有关秘鲁海马贸易的信息,确定两个监测海马出口和进口的机构在报告方面的差异,可能是由于产品分类代码的非标准化使用(PartidasArancelarias)。其中一个机构报告的没收行为证实,尽管有禁令,但非法贸易仍在继续,与禁令前秘鲁出口的数量相似(2019年没收的1053公斤与2004年出口1460公斤,估计有437888和607067海马,分别)。这篇评论强调了秘鲁海马保护方面的差距,其中包括研究差距(例如,分类法,生物学和生境的使用)以及确定渔业影响和副渔获物报告的改进。这篇综述还强调了国际贸易中可能改进的领域(例如,Partidas的标准化描述),最终将使该国能够遵循《濒危物种非法贸易公约》对海马的规定。
Illegal wildlife trade has been identified as a major source of global commerce of seahorses. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora listed the genus Hippocampus in Appendix II in 2004, when several countries that commercialized these species also banned transactions through domestic legislation, Peru being one of them. Nevertheless, since the 2004 ban was decreed in Peru, transactions have continued, including international commerce, as well confiscations of illegal seahorse Hippocampus ingens (Girard 1858) products. The authors reviewed three official government sources for information on seahorse trade in Peru, identifying differences in the reporting of the two agencies that monitor exports and imports of seahorses, likely due to non-standardized use of product categorization codes (Partidas Arancelarias). Confiscations reported by one of the agencies confirmed that illegal trade continued despite the ban and in similar amounts of what was exported by Peru before the ban (1053 kg confiscated in 2019 vs. 1460 kg exported in 2004, an estimated 437,888 and 607,067 seahorses, respectively). This
review highlights gaps in seahorse conservation in Peru, which include research gaps (e.g., taxonomy, biology and use of habitats) as well as the identification of fisheries impact and improvements in by-catch reporting. This
review also highlights areas for possible improvement in international trade (e.g., standardized descriptions of Partidas) that ultimately would allow the country to follow the Convention for Illegal Trade of Endangered Species regulations for seahorses.