Recently, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) listed ten species of marine life on the "Dangerous Species List" and does not recommend consumers to buy them. Michael Griff, wwf seafood program manager, said: "Retailers, chefs and consumers are advised to avoid buying endangered species, including bluefin tuna, conch and abalone. We've provided a blueprint to make identifying endangered species simple. ”
The World Wide Fund for Nature or World Wildlife Fund is one of the world's most prestigious and independent non-governmental environmental protection organizations, and since its founding in 1961, WWF has been committed to environmental causes, with more than 5 million supporters and projects in more than 100 countries around the world.
WWF is committed to protecting the world's biodiversity and the living environment of living organisms, and all efforts are aimed at reducing the impact of human beings on these organisms and their living environment. The following is an introduction to the ten endangered species of marine life mentioned in this WWF report.
Bluefin tuna (a species of tuna)
Bluefin tuna, one of the suborder Pelagic fish suborder Mackerel, is widely distributed in the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean waters of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting depths of 0-985 m, body length up to 458 cm, is an oceanic migratory fish, in groups, carnivorous, feeding on fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, can be used as edible fish, swimming fishing and farmed fish.
Overfishing is the biggest threat to bluefin tuna, with bluefin tuna spawning down 80% since the 1970s. Protecting migratory species requires international cooperation and strong domestic market controls.
Queen snail (a type of conch)
Queen snail, also known as queen snail, is a deep sea snail, because of the strict requirements for water quality and water temperature, it is particularly precious. However, can call the queen snail this elegant and luxurious name, the queen snail naturally has its own uniqueness, first of all, its huge size, how big is it? It is said that the pearls produced by the queen snail can be as large as a bird's egg!
The Queen of Conch was not previously included in the IUCN list, but illegal fishing and overexploitation have posed a serious threat to the species' population. In Florida, the queen snail population peaked, but the numbers fell sharply due to overfishing.
The U.S. government imposed strict fishing controls on conchs in the mid-1980s, but the number of conchs has not yet fully recovered. WWF believes that if stricter measures are not taken, the Caribbean queen snail may face extinction.
Abalone (a type of shellfish)
Abalone is one of the precious "sea treasures", known as "table gold, the crown of sea treasures", its flesh is tender and nutritious. Fresh edible part of the protein 24%, fat 0.44%; Dried product contains 40% protein, 33.7% glycogen, 0.9% fat, and a variety of vitamins and trace elements, which is a high-protein, low-fat food that is very beneficial to the human body. Abalone is rich in glutamate and has a very delicious taste.
The number of wild abalone is declining year on year due to overfishing, disease and declining quantities of bait (kelp). Consumers should not buy black abalone (haliotis cracherodii) and northern abalone (haliotis kamtschatkana). The study suggests that black abalone could be endangered within 30 years without control measures.
China is the world's largest producer of abalone. Abalone buyers from China should advise suppliers to apply for ASC certification.
Freshwater eel (a type of migratory fish)
Freshwater eels are native to the sea, travel down the river to grow up in freshwater, and then return to the sea to lay eggs. Every spring, large numbers of young eels (also known as white calves and eel lines) enter the river estuary from the sea in groups. Eel fry cannot be bred by artificial reproduction, mainly because eels have a very special life history and are difficult to simulate in an artificial environment. Japanese eels grow up in freshwater rivers to become eels, and in the summer they begin to migrate to the sea, that is, from rivers to the ocean to spawn, which is the opposite of the river-going migration of trout and salmon swimming back to the rivers from the ocean to spawn.
European eels (anguilla anguilla) are currently on the cites list, and according to statistics, as many as 100 tons of European eels are illegally trafficked from Europe to Asia every year, about 350 million. However, due to the impact of artificial dams, the migration of freshwater eels has been restricted, and many eels have died in turbine generators. Habitat loss, overfishing, disease, pollution and climate change also have a serious impact on the living conditions of eels.
American eels (anguilla rostrata) and Japanese eels (anguilla japonica) are also listed as "dangerous marine species" by WWF.
Grouper (Bassidae)
Grouper has the characteristics of rich nutrition, delicious meat, low fat, high protein, etc., and is considered to be one of the four famous fish in China in Hong Kong and Macao, and is a must-have for high-grade feasts. It is expensive, has high economic value, is one of the important farmed fish in China's coastal areas, and it has been widely farmed in China and Southeast Asian countries
In 1960, groupers in the U.S. Gulf of California accounted for 45 percent of the fishing industry. Now they account for less than 1%. In Asian countries, aquaculture is a good alternative to wild grouper. WWF recommends that buyers buy MSC certified grouper, or responsibly caught (e.g., fips, aips) groupers.
Atlantic giant grouper (epinephelus itajara), Mediterranean grouper (epinephelus marginatus), red-spotted grouper (epinephelus akaara) and nassau grouper (epinephelus striatus) are not recommended for purchase.
Sea cucumber (Sea cucumber echinoderma)
Sea cucumbers are distributed in all seas of the world, the most abundant species are in the Indo-Western Pacific region, especially the edible sea cucumbers, mostly distributed in tropical coral reefs. There is only one kind of edible sea cucumber in northern China, that is, thorn ginseng, while Hainan Island and The Paracel Islands produce more than a dozen kinds of edible sea cucumbers. Edible sea cucumbers mostly live in the intertidal zone or shallow seas. There are also sea cucumbers in the deep sea and even in the abyss, and most of them are flat-footed sea cucumbers.
China is the main market for sea cucumbers, which have fallen sharply due to overfishing and reduced dissolved oxygen. Sea cucumbers are an important ingredient in coral reef ecosystems, and overfishing is one of the causes of coral reef degradation.
Black milk ginseng (holothuria nobilis), dark ginseng (isostichopus fuscus), Australian golden sea cucumber (holothuria lessoni), Japanese ginseng (apostichopus japonicus), red ginseng (thelenota ananas) and rough sea cucumber (holothuria scabra) are not recommended for purchase.
Sturgeon (fish of the order Sturgeon)
They are all distributed in the northern hemisphere, and the existing nine natural distribution areas are: the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean, the Great Lakes region of North America, the northwestern Atlantic, the Mississippi River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico in North America, the northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Caspian Sea region, Siberia and the Arctic Ocean basin, the Heilongjiang And Sea of Japan, the Yangtze River and the Pearl River. There are 8 species of wild sturgeon in China, and they are distributed in Heilongjiang, Songhuajiang and other places.
Overfishing and regulation of river flows are major threats to wild sturgeon, as are poaching, water pollution and habitat destruction. Sturgeon take a long time to sexually mature, and female sturgeon around the age of 20 begins to give birth, but caviar is a high-end product in the seafood market. Currently, about 20 species of sturgeon are endangered.
Sharks (cartilaginous fishes)
Shark is an ancient fish, and judging from the many shark teeth and thorn fragments unearthed, its fossils appeared 350-410 million years before the dinosaurs. In this long history, sharks have been naturally selected, some species have disappeared, and some of the fragility of species still exist in more than 300 species, such as slow growth, late sexual maturity, reproduction is also once every two years, and the reproduction rate is extremely low.
Tens of millions of sharks are killed each year, and about 40 species are now endangered, equivalent to a quarter of all sharks' body weight, largely due to overfishing and co-fishing. Shark fin dishes are available in China and Vietnam, and shark meat is also available in Countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Mexico, and Ecuador. Several countries around the world and several states in the United States have banned the sale of shark fin soup.
Manta rays (belonging to the cartilaginous fish family, Manta ray family, it contains two genera)
Manta rays inhabit shallow tropical and subtropical seas, rarely staying or inhabiting the seafloor, and can be seen from surface waters closer to the coast to 120 meters deep.
Certain species can be found in Fujian, Zhejiang and the Yellow Sea region of China. Because they have a habit of migrating, they are not seen in a place all year round. Every year from June to July in fujian, Zhejiang coast, from August to September to the Yellow Sea. From October to November, it returns to the coast of Zhejiang, and from December to February to March of the following year, it migrates south along the original route.
Most manta rays are on the list of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and there are 40 endangered species, or 20 per cent of all species. Like sharks, manta rays are also overfished and co-fished. Some manta rays are sold as shark fins.
Totoaba (totoabaceae)
Grouper is now completely off-limits, but poaching is still being spotted. The maw of totoaba is a valuable ingredient in Chinese cooking, and any Chinese dish that uses totoaba maw in the Gulf of California is illegally imported from Mexico.
Endangered dolphins are also thought to be the result of illegal fishing of totoabas in the Gulf of California, where only 12 are now left.