The catch and export of the seahorse trade in the Philippines, pre-CITES

In 2004, global seahorse trade fell under the auspices of CITES, requiring all signatories to regulate international trade for sustainability, and in the Philippines resulted in a complete ban on seahorse extraction. Pre-CITES official data was scarce but preliminary surveys in 1995 suggested that the Philippines was an important seahorse supplier.

To assesses the Philippines seahorse trade pre-CITES interviews of fishers and traders (n=145) were conducted between 1998 and 2001, and triangulated with the official trade data. The Philippines was confirmed as a major exporter of dried and live seahorses with consistent estimates of catch for the dried trade at ~10 000 kg year -1, but highly variable estimates of catch for the aquarium trade ranging from a mean of 145 000 – 1 000 000 seahorses year -1 depending on the data source. The survey data offers an important baseline for future studies on the effectiveness of CITES.

Pajaro, M.G. & A.C.J. Vincent (2015). The catch and export of the seahorse trade in the Philippines, pre-CITES. Fisheries Centre Working Paper #2015-102. The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.