Spanish and Portuguese authorities on Friday said that they have taken down a criminal network that made large profits by smuggling glass eels to Asia.
Authorities across the continent have been trying to tackle the smugglers, who take European glass eels to Asian countries, where they are raised into adults and their meat commands high prices for local delicacies.
Trade in the European eel has been restricted since 2009 under the rules of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The EU has banned all exports outside the union and regulated internal sales, although an underground black market in eels has thrived in recent years.
In the latest operation, four Chinese citizens, three Spaniards and three Moroccans were arrested in Spain in an operation coordinated by Europol.
The Spanish Civil Guard said that 460kg of glass eels were seized in southern Spain, adding that their market value, once the eels have grown into adults, is estimated at more than 400 million euros (US$492 million).
One kilogram of baby eels could yield 1.3 tonnes of adult eels, investigators said.
More than 100 tonnes of juvenile eels evade wildlife traffic controls every year in Europe, Sustainable Eel Group chairman Andrew Kerr said.
“That’s nearly one-fourth of the total European eel natural stock,” Kerr said on Friday. “It’s the biggest wildlife crime action in Europe and it’s hidden from everyone.”
Friday’s disclosure showed how the ring exported the baby eels bought in Spain through Portugal and Morocco, and how the eels were concealed in suitcases or in cargo containers and sent to Hong Kong, China, South Korea and other Asian markets.
Police also seized 364 suitcases possibly used to smuggle the eels, Spanish Civil Guard Colonel Jesus Galvez told reporters in Madrid.
Because eels cannot be bred in captivity, the wriggling glass eels —or elvers — are usually fished and raised to maturity at aquaculture farms in Asia, where pollution, climate change and poaching has diminished stocks of the Japonica Anguilla species.
Since the glass eel fishing season began at the end of the fall, Portugal has arrested 28 people and seized 1 tonne of glass eels during 18 raids.
Meanwhile, Spain has since November arrested or identified as suspects 89 people, confiscating more than 2.3 tonnes of baby eels.
The seized eels have been reintroduced to the wild, Galvez said.
Europol European Serious and Organized Crime Centre Head Jari Liukku compared the benefits from illicit wildlife trading to those of drug, arms or human trafficking.
“Punishments are low and the conviction rate for environmental crimes is still low,” he said.
Japan’s Mount Aso erupted yesterday, spewing a giant column of ash thousands of meters into the sky as hikers rushed away from the popular tourist spot. No injuries were immediately reported after the late-morning eruption in southwest Japan, which sent rocks flying in a dramatic blast captured by nearby CCTV cameras. People were warned not to approach the volcano as it ejected hot gas and ash as high as 3,500m, and sent stones tumbling down its grassy slopes. Authorities were checking if any hikers had been trapped or injured, officials told local media, as TV footage showed dozens of vehicles and tour buses
PROMPTING MOCKERY : A cryptic announcement of the pianist’s detention by Beijing police was followed by CCTV commenting on the ‘social morality’ of celebrities Concert pianist Li Yundi (李雲迪), one of China’s most famous musicians, has been detained in Beijing over prostitution allegations, state media said on Thursday, prompting some incredulity and a lot of mockery on Chinese social media. Reuters was unable to immediately reach Li or a representative for comment. Police in the Chinese capital’s Chaoyang District said they had detained a 39-year-old man surnamed Li, along with a 29-year-old female surnamed Chen, after receiving reports from the public of prostitution in a neighborhood they did not identify. Both people confessed to the illegal activity, the police said in a statement on a microblogging platform. The
‘AVOIDABLE SITUATION’: After being tortured in his home country, a Sri Lankan and his family are at risk of deportation from the UK, despite his academic fellowship A scientist conducting groundbreaking research into renewable energy is facing deportation with his family to Sri Lanka, where he was tortured, after receiving contradictory information about his case from the British Home Office. Nadarajah Muhunthan, 47, his wife, Sharmila, 42, and their three children, aged 13, nine and five, went to the UK in 2018 after Muhunthan, who is working on thin-film photovoltaic devices used to generate solar power, was given a prestigious Commonwealth Rutherford fellowship. The award allowed him to reside to the UK for two years to research and develop the technology. His wife obtained a job caring for
DEMAND-DRIVEN: The report, produced by Greenpeace and TheTreeMap, said law enforcement has allowed palm oil plantations on UNESCO sites, parks and tiger habitats Almost one-fifth of the land used for Indonesian palm oil plantations is located in the country’s forest conservation areas, despite a law banning such activity, a study by Greenpeace has found. The report, produced by Greenpeace and TheTreeMap, describes a catastrophic failure of law enforcement that has permitted swathes of land — including UNESCO sites, national parks and areas mapped as habitats for orangutans and Sumatran tigers — to be cultivated as palm oil plantations. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, which is used in many everyday products and foods, from shampoo and lipstick to chocolate and frozen pizzas. However,
RSS