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Around five million seahorses were seized from illegal trade over the span of a decade, according to a recent study exploring seahorse trafficking.
The study was conducted in part by researchers from Project Seahorse, a UBC-affiliated organization aimed toward finding sustainable solutions for seahorses that are under threat from wildlife trade. According to Project Seahorse’s website, seahorse trade is composed of three main markets: ornamental display, traditional medicine and curiosities. Dried seahorses make up the last 2 markets and 95 per cent of the overall trade. Dr. Sarah Foster, a research associate at the Institute of Oceans and Fisheries at UBC, is one of the organization’s co-leaders.
According to Foster, the motivation behind the study was to investigate the effectiveness of seahorse trade suspensions and raise awareness of the issue among governments. In the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), seahorses are allowed to be traded through sustainable and legal means. Researchers found that despite seahorse export bans and suspensions, a large amount of illegal trade is still happening.
“Governments often declare policies, declare actions [and] declare intentions that are in the right direction of conservation,” said Foster. “But if they don’t actually take the action to implement those declarations, to bring them to life on the ground, then they don’t mean anything.” Project Seahorse works with countries to facilitate policies that are more than declarations of good intentions — ones that can be meaningfully implemented.
In the paper, the data was collected from online records of seahorse seizures that occurred from January 1, 2010 to April 29, 2021. These records were taken from existing databases from Project Seahorse, OceansAsia, TRAFFIC and verifiable media sources reporting on the interception of seahorse trade.
Foster pointed out that not all international trade gets intercepted and reported, which emphasizes the lack of transparency regarding seahorse trade. “We really were finding the tip of the iceberg in our data, and yet we still uncovered five million animals worth 30 million Canadian dollars involving 60 countries,” Foster said. “So if that’s the tip of the iceberg, it makes you think ‘What is really on the ground?’”
Foster said one of the biggest barriers to sustainable seahorse trade is traceability, which ensures that information moves with the animal throughout the supply chain. According to Foster, when an exporter applies for a trade permit, traceability allows them to have key information about the seahorses, including which fishery they came from, where they were caught and the method they were caught with. This information can be used to determine whether the trade was carried out through sustainable means.
In targeted fisheries, Foster noted the option of setting quotas on how many seahorses can be removed from the wild. Leaving pregnant seahorses out of the trade until they give birth can also help preserve the next generation of seahorses.
Another quota that Project Seahorse has explored in target fisheries is imposing a minimum size limit of 10 centimetres to ensure that juvenile seahorses aren’t being traded. In the past, Project Seahorse has worked with Hong Kong traditional medicine traders to issue a letter asking traders not to trade seahorses less than the minimum size requirement. Foster said that traders can be important allies in ensuring that management tools are enforced.
Project Seahorse is set to take their research to the international community at the upcoming CITES Conference of the Parties this December in Uzbekistan. According to Foster, the topic of seahorse trade will be on the agenda, making governments aware of the issue and efforts geared toward finding solutions.
“It’s a wake-up call to all governments everywhere to pay attention to this problem, and also a need for more coordination among countries to make sure they’re working together to figure out a solution.”
First online July 24, 2025, 10:57 a.m.
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