By V. Boilevin, A. Crosta and S.J. Hennige

Demand for totoaba swim bladders has created a transnational illicit supply chain network. Organised crime groups are instru-mental in this process, impacting Mexico at social, environmen-tal, economic, and political levels. There are five main points within the supply chain: the poachers in the Upper Gulf ofCalifornia, the Mexican illegal traders, the Chinese illegal traders in Mexico, illegal traders and retailers in China and Hong Kong,and the consumers and investors located primarily in China.Illegal fishers in Mexico use gillnets to capture totoaba, leadingto bycatch and decline of the critically endangered vaquita.There have been significant conservation efforts by the local and international communities to reduce this bycatch, but these have been unsuccessful in addressing the continued traf-ficking of totoaba and the decline of the vaquita. Here we highlight the complexity of the totoaba supply chain and argue that totoaba illegal trade has to be viewed as organised envi-ronmental crime rather than as a conservation issue. A particu-larly enforceable point in the chain is through the Chineseorganised crime group in Mexico, which is a crucial link toonward trafficking through ports and airports. While recent efforts have been made with regard to totoaba seizures and prosecutions, to dismantle the supply chain, strong transnational collaboration is needed at multiple levels, and in particular between Mexico, the USA, and China.GRAPHICAL

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, Volume 26, 2023 - Issue 2, 32p.