C4ADS

innovation for peace

The Totoaba Mafia

Exposing the Totoaba Trafficking Supply Chain
Driving the Extinction of the Vaquita

July 2017

1
 About C4ADS About the Authors

C4ADS (www.c4ads.org) is a 501(c)(3) Mary Utermohlen received degrees in

nonprofit organization dedicated to data- International Relations and Accounting
driven analysis and evidence-based reporting from the College of William & Mary, with
of conflict and security issues worldwide. We concentrations in Hispanic Studies and
seek to alleviate the analytical burden carried Economics. Mary has studied in Spain and
by public sector institutions by applying in the UK, speaks Spanish and is learning
manpower, depth, and rigor to questions of Portuguese. She writes for the Diplomatic
conflict and security. Courier, and has written for the U.S.
Our approach leverages nontraditional Army’s Training Brain Operations Center.
investigative techniques and emerging Mary manages the C4ADS Environmental
analytical technologies. We recognize the Crimes Fusion Cell’s timber and IUU
value of working on the ground in the field, fishing portfolios.
capturing local knowledge, and collecting Philip Kittock received his undergraduate
original data to inform our analysis. At the degree in Political Science with a Spanish
same time, we employ cutting edge minor and concentration in International
technology to manage and analyze that data. Relations from St. John’s University (MN).
The result is an innovative analytical He speaks Spanish.
approach to conflict prevention and
mitigation.
Acknowledgements
Cover Photo The authors would like to thank the many
people who contributed information to
The cover photo for The Totoaba Mafia was this report from Mexico, the United States,
taken by Sea Shepherd’s Operation Milagro and Hong Kong.
III in the Gulf of California in March 2017. The authors would also like to thank Sea
An illegal totoaba gillnet containing 66 dead Shepherd for sharing their gillnet retrieval
totoaba floats in the foreground, and Sea data; Sayari Analytics; and Evangeline
Shepherd’s ship, the M/V Farley Mowat, Hines, as always, for her patience and
approaches in the background. mystifying technological talents.

Legal Disclaimer

The mention of any individual, company,

organization, or other entity in this report
does not imply the violation of any law or
international agreement, and should not be
construed as such.

Table of Contents

1
Abbreviations
• AFCD: Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department
• AIC: Mexican Criminal Investigation Agency
• CBP: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• CIRVA: Committee for the International Recovery of the Vaquita
• CITES: Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora
• CONANP: Mexican National Commission for Protected Natural Areas
• CONAPESCA: Mexican National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission
• DOT: U.S. Department of Transportation
• EAL: Elephant Action League
• EIA: Environmental Investigation Agency
• FWS: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• HSI: U.S. Homeland Security Investigations
• NGO: Nongovernmental organization
• PESP: Mexican State Police
• PGR: Mexican Attorney General
• PROFEPA: Mexican Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection
• SEDENA: Secretariat of National Defense
• SEMAR: Mexican Navy
• SEMARNAT: Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources
• SSCS: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
• UAV: Unmanned aerial vehicle
• UNODC: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• WWF: World Wildlife Fund

2
Executive Summary
Once essential to the economy of the Gulf of California region in Mexico, the totoaba fish has suffered
a precipitous decline over the past century due to overfishing. The problem reached its zenith in the
1970s, resulting in a ban on totoaba fishing, and the species’ receipt of the highest levels of protection
under Mexican, U.S., and international law. After a few decades of comparative calm, the totoaba is
under attack once again, this time by illegal fishermen hoping to catch even a few of the giant fish.
They know that amassing a few kilograms of the totoaba’s famed bladders could earn them more than
a year’s salary in just one night.
But the totoaba’s high value signals trouble for more than just the continued viability of the species;
the nets used to catch them, called gillnets, are devastating for marine life in the Gulf. One species in
particular, the vaquita, the world’s smallest remaining porpoise species, has suffered disproportionately
from the resurgence of totoaba poaching. A reclusive and shy animal by nature, the vaquita have
suffered substantial losses at the hands of totoaba poachers, declining from 567 individuals in 1997 to
an estimated 26 by May 2017. With illegal totoaba fishing showing no signs of decreasing – some
evidence suggests that totoaba fishermen have only become more brazen – and despite a gillnet ban,
gillnet removal operations, and other programs, the vaquita face a dark future without an immediate
and substantial change.
Compounding the problem (and the vaquita’s increasingly likely fate), organized criminal networks
entered the totoaba trafficking scene in about 2011, attracted by the prospect of a little-known fish
bladder worth as much as its weight in cocaine.i Their entrance signaled the arrival of a period of
volatility and insecurity in the region, as criminal bosses jockeyed to control the totoaba trade in seaside
towns and cities, and as criminal fishermen began to use their law-abiding counterparts as a
smokescreen for their illegal activity.
While the Mexican authorities have struggled to address the problem, generally unassisted by foreign
governments that still consider totoaba trafficking just a conservation issue, organized criminal groups
have solidified their hold on the totoaba trade in the Gulf, corrupting those officials who stand in their
way (even those who stood strong against narcotics traffickers), and frightening the local populations
into silence. Without a concerted, international effort to loosen their grip and reverse the devastation
wrought on the Gulf of California at sea and on land, the totoaba and the vaquita could both be lost.
Organized criminal actors, emboldened by their virtually unchallenged accrual of illicit totoaba money,
will then turn to some other high-value crime. Newly minted totoaba traffickers will join them,
unwilling – and perhaps unable – to return to the unassuming, often difficult life of a legal fisherman.
The Totoaba Mafia examines the totoaba trafficking supply chain, from the Gulf of California, through
the United States, and into Chinese destination markets. The report is broken down into the following
sections:
• Fishing briefly examines the history of totoaba fishing and panga activity in the Gulf, and
traces the origins of the current crisis. Recent gillnet retrieval data is used to shed light on
fluctuations in illegal fishing activity, and the modus operandi of totoaba fishermen are described
in detail. Finally, the recent involvement of organized criminal groups in totoaba fishing – and
the resulting impact on regional stability and security – is revealed.
• Trafficking follows the totoaba supply chain from the Gulf of California to Chinese
destination markets, beginning with the methods used to move totoaba bladders from the
shores of the Gulf to consolidation and processing points. Trafficking methods and routes
between Mexico, the United States, and Asia are exposed, and various possible explanations

3
 are given for the recent decline in identifiable totoaba trafficking activity, despite little to no
observed changes in illegal totoaba fishing.
• Destination first describes known and suspected trafficking methods between the Americas
and Asia, as well as between Hong Kong and mainland China. The significant drop in totoaba
prices and overt market activity since the peak in about 2012 are assessed, and the still thriving
online trade for totoaba bladders is analyzed.
Finally, C4ADS identified a number of small-scale networks moving totoaba from the Gulf of
California to Asia, occasionally passing through the United States on the way. C4ADS found that even
in cases where networks could not be identified, common modus operandi associated with the illicit
totoaba trade were highly suggestive of organized criminal activity, rather than opportunistic fishing
by a small sub-set of local fishermen. A number of cases given slight coverage in the Mexican press,
and almost no coverage beyond the Gulf of California area, cast light on the links between the totoaba
trade and other crime types, and highlight the need to address totoaba trafficking as the organized
crime it has become.
The totoaba trafficking crisis has escalated to the point that Mexican authorities cannot fix the problem
alone; additional support – from other governments, NGOs, and the international community – is
desperately needed. Continuing to think of totoaba trafficking as only a conservation issue ignores the
clear security implications it has and could have for Mexico and the United States, including the long-
term destabilization of the Baja California region. Surely addressing the problem now, and perhaps
saving the vaquita, is preferable to watching the biodiversity of the Gulf continue to decline, and in so
doing, driving the further deterioration of the Gulf economy and allowing for the insidious expansion
of Mexican organized crime’s already substantial reach and power.

4
 Map of Baja California and the surrounding region.

5
Introduction
Just before 1 a.m. on April 10, 2013, Song Shen Zhen arrived at the United States – Mexico border
crossing in Calexico, California and told U.S. customs agents he had nothing to declare. ii Upon
inspection of his car, however, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent discovered that the rear
floor mats in his car were not lying flat on the ground – plastic bags full of apparent contraband had
been stashed underneath. Despite this discovery, Song reiterated his claim that he had nothing to
declare. Instead of challenging his assertion, officials kept only one bag for testing and allowed Song
to leave with the rest.
Unbeknownst to Song, U.S. officials then followed him to his home in Calexico. After receiving a
warrant to search the premises, they discovered that the home had little furniture and was set up as a
factory, designed to store, process, and ship high-value contraband smuggled over the border from
Mexico. But instead of narcotics, a total of 241 swim bladders had been carefully laid out to dry, with
fans positioned to speed up the process.
Although perhaps innocuous to the casual observer, Song’s 241 swim bladders1 were estimated to be
worth $3.6 million in Asian markets at the time of their seizure.iii The key to the high value of Song’s
particular bladders lay in their origins; the bladders had been taken from the highly protected totoaba,
a large croaker fish species endemic to the Gulf of California.

Totoaba Background and Demand

Totoaba bladders – also known as buches, “aquatic cocaine,” or “money maw” – are in high demand
in China, where consumers believe the bladders have medicinal properties.iv Small bladders are most
often used to make fish maw soup, while larger bladders are used as expensive gifts among the elite
or, increasingly, as shrewd financial investments.

Image X. A totoaba macdonaldi. Source: International Game Fish Association

1 A swim bladder is an organ used by certain fish species to regulate buoyancy.

6
Mexican fishermen have fished for totoaba since the early 20th century, when both totoaba meat and
swim bladders were consumed in Mexico, the United States, and China. By 1942, the annual totoaba
catch in the Gulf of California totaled over 2,000 tons. Totoaba could not sustain such high levels of
fishing, however, and by 1975, the annual catch had fallen by 97% to 59 tons.
Mexican authorities responded to the
totoaba’s drastic decline by
completely banning commercial
fishing for totoaba from “the mouth
of the Colorado River to Fuerte River,
Sinaloa, in the east coast [of the Gulf
of California] and from the Colorado
River to Concepción Bay, Baja
California Sur, in the west coast.” v
Further legal protections followed;
totoaba were listed on CITES
Appendix I 2 in 1975, the U.S.
Endangered Species Act in 1979, and
on Mexico’s Law for Endangered
Image X. A commercial catch of totoaba at Bahia San Luis Gonzaga in Species Protection in 1994. Two years
Baja California in 1954. At the time, some totoaba weighed over 300
pounds. Source: Toni Reyes Baca later, in 1996, the species was
designated as critically endangered by
vi
the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Despite the totoaba’s new protections,
relatively weak enforcement efforts meant that totoaba fishing never entirely ceased within the Gulf,vii
although it did drop enough to temporarily save the totoaba from an abrupt extinction.
More recent demand for totoaba bladders can be partially attributed to the decimation of the totoaba’s
only perceived equal, the Chinese bahaba, through rampant over-fishing; the recent growth of the
Chinese middle class; and the 2008 global financial crisis, which allegedly drove consumers in China
to purchase totoaba bladders and other high-value assets as perceived safe investments.viii
Recent Upsurge in Totoaba Fishing
The recent spike in totoaba bladder demand has spurred a dramatic increase in totoaba fishing in the
Gulf of California, as fishermen and other individuals realized the profits that could be theirs after
catching even one totoaba. As one fisherman told Greenpeace in 2015, totoaba fishermen can make
as much as $8,000 per kilogram of totoaba bladders, compared to 300 pesos, or about $16, per
kilogram of shrimp.ix
Communities in the Gulf of California began to notice a shift away from commonly fished Gulf
species towards the protected totoaba in about 2011. The high profits associated with the illegal
totoaba trade even at the fishing level meant that it grew quickly. In 2013 alone, the totoaba trade was
estimated to be worth at least $2.25 million, although a series of totoaba seizures in 2013 suggest that
the trade could have been worth as much as $7 million that year.x xi

2 The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is an international agreement intended to
monitor the international wildlife trade. Partner countries can vote at each CITES meeting to place endangered or
protected species on one of three Appendices. Species on Appendix I can only be traded in exceptional circumstances
(and never for commercial purposes), and species on Appendix II can only be traded under certain conditions and with
the necessary paperwork. Appendix III species require certain export permits and certificates of origin.

7
By 2014, locals were reporting that organized criminal groups had entered the totoaba market,
attracted by the prospects of a commodity worth more by weight than cocaine,3 and with few of its
associated risks. For example, although convicted narcotics traffickers in Mexico face ten to 25 years
in prison and 100 to 500 days’ fine,4 those found smuggling or illegally fishing for totoaba until
recently faced no more – and generally far less – than a two-year prison sentence. xii xiii

Limited enforcement capacity and effort mean that an illegal fisherman or trafficker caught with
totoaba can reasonably expect to lose only the nets and totoaba they are found with. Those involved
in the totoaba trade are aware that actual investigations and prosecutions of totoaba traffickers are
limited, if not nonexistent; as of June 2016, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and the
Mexican Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) were only aware of two totoaba trafficking operations
in the Federal Police’s archives.xiv The lack of publicly available information on the outcomes of these
cases suggest that they may have ended without significant, or any, enforcement action.
The recent resurgence of totoaba fishing has had another negative consequence. In addition to the
clear threat that overfishing poses to the totoaba, the fishing nets that are used to capture them have
an unfortunate tendency to ensnare the totoaba’s most endangered and elusive neighbor – the vaquita.

3The price of totoaba has since fallen slightly below that of cocaine.
4The Mexican fine system is based on the Mexican minimum wage. Since the Mexican minimum wage in 2017 is 80.04
pesos per day ($3.90), a narcotics trafficker in Mexico could receive a fine of anywhere from 8,004 pesos ($445.35) to
40,020 pesos ($2,226.74).

8
Implications for the Critically Endangered Vaquita
Totoaba share the Upper Gulf of California with the vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise species.
The nets fishermen use to catch totoaba, called gillnets, are particularly effective at trapping other
marine creatures. The large, anchored nets are usually set at night and hang from just below the surface
of the water – making them particularly difficult to spot – down to the sea floor, and can be left in
place for days, weeks, or even months before they are retrieved or discovered. Marine life seems to
find gillnets about as difficult to avoid as humans consider them difficult to find; fish, sharks, rays,
and even dolphins have been found tangled in the nets.xv
One type of gillnet, generally known as a totoaba or large mesh gillnet, is used to target totoaba
specifically. The mesh on these nets are
set 20 to 30.5 centimeters apart, just
large enough to ensnare the head of a
totoaba, and just small enough to
prevent their escape. These types of
nets in particular pose a significant
threat to the vaquita, since the
porpoises are roughly the same size as
the totoaba.
Little is known about vaquita behavior,
but both their limited population and
vulnerability to gillnets has been well-
documented. The International
Committee for the Recovery of the
Vaquita (CIRVA), created to
determine, monitor, and reverse the
causes of the vaquita’s decline, found
that there were only 567 individuals left
in the Gulf in 1997.xvi Five years prior
to CIRVA’s finding, one study
identified 128 dead vaquitas in gillnets
between 1985 and 1992. xvii Using
CIRVA’s 1997 estimate as a baseline,
these lost vaquitas could have Image X. A depiction by NOAA of the vaquita refuge, gillnet
accounted for as much as 23% of the exclusion zone, and known vaquita distribution. Source: NOAA
entire species at that time.
As the plight of the vaquita was first coming to light in the early 1990s, the Mexican government began
taking steps to protect what remained of the species. In 1993, the Biosphere Reserve of the Upper
Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta was created.xviii Four years later, the Mexican government
created CIRVA to bring together scientists from Europe, North America, and Mexico to create a
recovery program for the vaquita.xix By CIRVA’s second meeting, the committee had concluded that
gillnets were by far the biggest threat to the continued viability of the species, and recommended that
the Biosphere Reserve be extended to include the entirety of the vaquita’s known habitat.xx In late
2005, a gillnet-free Vaquita Refuge Zone was declared in the Upper Gulf to protect what remained of
the population.xxi

9
Despite these apparent steps forward, little was done to enforce the rules of the Reserve or to ensure
the improved health of the species. Between the mid-1990s and 2004, the number of pangas5 – used
as a rough estimate of the incidence of gillnet fishing in the Gulf – at least doubled.xxii Between 2005
and 2007, the number of pangas on the water doubled again.xxiii

Image X. This photo, taken in February 1992 in Santa Clara, depicts a dead vaquita lying on a gillnet, and a
totoaba being held above it. Source: AFP/WWF/Omar Vidal

The apparent increase in the numbers of gillnets in the area accelerated the vaquita’s decline. By 2008,
the vaquita population was estimated at 245 individuals,xxiv and by 2015, the population had dropped
another 76% to 59 individuals.
More recently, Mexican President Enrique Peña-Nieto declared a two-year ban on gillnets in the Gulf
beginning in April 2015, complete with a compensation scheme intended to support fishermen and
fishing cooperatives that were sure to lose significant income as a result of the ban. But the ban has
also failed to restrict the use of gillnets, and the compensation plan designed to provide replacement
income to gillnet fishermen has been fraught with problems, reportedly pushing some fishermen to
engage in illegal totoaba fishing to support their families. CIRVA’s latest estimates from the fall of
2016 indicate that less than 30 individuals remain, a 50% drop from the previous estimate.xxv
Since the increase in totoaba fishing began, vaquita mortality has spiked during the totoaba and corvina
fishing seasons, which overlap in March and April each year. Vaquita mortality is generally measured
by the number of dead vaquitas found floating in the Gulf and on shore, as fishermen that find dead
vaquita entangled in their nets remove them and throw them back out to sea. In the spring, vaquitas
are generally found near areas associated with illegal totoaba fishing, generally around the Golfo de

5Small motor boats used by totoaba fishermen. The US GAO defines pangas as “open-hulled, flat-bottomed fishing
vessels designed to arrive and depart directly from a beach. These vessels are between 20 and 60 feet long, and are fitted
with one or more outboard motors.” United States Government Accountability Office. “BORDER SECURITY: Additional Actions
Could Strengthen DHS Efforts to Address Subterranean, Aerial, and Maritime Smuggling.” May 2017.
www.gao.gov/assets/690/684408.pdf.

10
Santa Clara and San Felipe.xxvi During last year’s season, three dead vaquita were found in March, all
with injuries suggesting they had drowned after becoming tangled in gillnets.xxvii Official numbers from
the 2017 season have yet to be released, but rumors are circulating that a total of four vaquita were
found, bringing the population down to an estimated 26 remaining individuals.
Year Est. Population Est. % Annual Decrease
1997 567 n/a
2008 245 7.6%
2009 209 18.5%
2013 189 18.5%
2014 97 49%
2015 59 39%
2016 30 51%
Recent years for which vaquita population estimates exist. CIRVA estimated a decline of 7.6% per year between 1997
and 2008, and a decline of 18.5% per year from 2008 to 2014. Estimated annual decreases are italicized. Population
xxviii

estimate numbers all from CIRVA reports.

Without vastly improved surveillance and enforcement efforts in the Gulf of California, the vaquita
will be lost within the next few years. The situation is now so critical that, in accordance with recent
recommendations from CIRVA, the Mexican and U.S. governments are coordinating the capture of
the remaining vaquita with the help of U.S. Navy dolphins.xxix Whether the vaquita can survive in
captivity remains to be seen.

Organized Criminal Involvement

Further complicating matters is the increasingly clear involvement of organized crime in the totoaba
supply chain, with some criminal actors even threatening the lives and families of people pulling up
gillnets in the Gulf.xxx Locals from around the Gulf claim that organized crime entered the totoaba
business in 2013 or 2014. According to one Army official, "They entered with everything into the
business: organizational structures, a level of corruption and of organization, established networks,
routes, contacts, outlets, and sponsors in institutions. That which they applied to the drug trade, they
implemented in the case of totoaba."xxxi The high price and comparative safety of totoaba trafficking
have proven irresistible to organized criminals, who can rely on their existing networks to move
totoaba with relative ease. William Woody, Chief of Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, said in June 2016 that “[FWS has] documented…Mexican drug organizations in the totoaba
trade…”xxxii
While Mexican government agencies have generally refrained from directly connecting narcotics to
totoaba trafficking networks, a number of Mexican government agencies and news outlets have
pointed to the clear overlap between them. xxxiii For example:
• A Mexican Senate document released in early 2017 attributed totoaba bladder’s nickname,
aquatic cocaine, to the shared use of certain trafficking routes by both narcotics and totoaba
networks.xxxiv
• Local media has reported that criminal organizations have been known to send fishermen
into the protected zone in the Gulf of California to ensure that any enforcement boats
stationed nearby will be distracted by the intrusion, allowing speedboats carrying narcotics
and other illicit goods to slide by undetected.xxxv

11
 • Local journalists have also detailed the alleged involvement of known narcotics traffickers in
the totoaba trade in Santa Clara.6 xxxvi
On shore, fishermen have described a clear increase in violence, as competing groups of community
outsiders fight over their spoils.xxxvii In a few documented instances, men have even been killed for
their involvement in totoaba trafficking.xxxviii
Finally, totoaba originate in a fairly remote area,7 where criminal distribution networks are already well-
established. At the very least, existing criminal networks and totoaba traffickers must utilize the same
routes, and must pass through the same few towns and cities before exiting the region. Some overlap
is therefore inevitable. But despite this and other evidence, the issue of totoaba trafficking is still largely
considered a conservation issue, particularly outside of Mexico.
At this point, failing to recognize the nexus between totoaba trafficking and organized crime will only
stall the development and implementation of enforcement strategies needed to tackle the sophisticated
networks that have begun to direct the totoaba trade. Allowing totoaba trafficking to continue
unimpeded will further destabilize the Gulf of California region, creating more and more opportunities
for the expansion of other forms of organized crime in the area. Furthermore, delaying the
implementation of effective counter-efforts will waste a valuable resource – time, the only thing
remaining between the vaquita and extinction.

6See The Narcobucheros of Santa Clara below for more information.
7Although there are some small cities and large towns in Baja California and western Sonora, these settlements are
connected by few major roads, and are generally surrounded by desert, mountains, or both.

12
Methodology
The information contained within The Totoaba Mafia is based on extensive multi-lingual analysis by
C4ADS’ analysts over the course of several months in late 2016 and early 2017. All of the information
used in this report was compiled from publicly available sources in Mexico, the United States, and
China, including, but not limited to, the following:
• Published releases and reports on totoaba demand markets, including Greenpeace’s “How the
illegal totoaba trade in Hong Kong is pushing Mexico’s vaquita to the brink of extinction”
(May 2015), the Environmental Investigation Agency’s Collateral Damage: How illegal trade in
totoaba swim bladders is driving the vaquita to extinction (September 2016), and the Elephant Action
League’s Operation Fake Gold (May 2017);
• Mexican, U.S., and Chinese media articles;
• Raw data and insights from the Gulf of California via Sea Shepherd’s Operation Milagro III
campaign;
• Freedom of Information Act information provided to C4ADS from the U.S. FWS and
Customs and Border Protection (CBP);
• Interviews with enforcement officials, scientists, and other experts;
• Information provided to C4ADS through our law enforcement and NGO partner network;
and
• Our own open source8 investigative techniques.
In addition, the limited size of the totoaba trafficking supply chain, and the comparatively little
international attention that it receives, necessitated reliance on local partners in addition to those
mentioned above for raw data and up-to-date information on the status of trafficking in the Gulf and
in China. n
Finally, C4ADS, in conjunction with local partners, conducted a review of overt totoaba sales in Hong
Kong over the period of one month in the early spring of 2017. C4ADS simultaneously reviewed
online e-commerce websites popular amongst Asian consumers to identify likely totoaba
advertisements and other evidence of online totoaba trafficking activity.
Note that all price conversions in The Totoaba Mafia relied on current exchange rates. Unless otherwise
stated, all prices are in U.S. dollars.

8 Open source information refers to data collected from publicly available sources, such as public business registries,
trade databases, news articles, press releases, social media, etc.

13
Fishing
Estimated Totoaba Bladder Value in Mexico: $1,500xxxix per bladder ($8,500xl per kilogram)

The three main communities around the Gulf of California – San Felipe in Baja California and Puerto
Peñasco and the Golfo de Santa Clara in Sonora – rely on the fisheries in the Gulf for the majority of
their income. At the time of their first meeting in the 1990s, CIRVA determined that about 58% of
the entire employed population in the Biosphere Reserve made a living from fishing,xli with Santa Clara
earning as much as 99% of its income from fishing activities.xlii They estimated that there were about
700 pangas total in operation between all three communities, with a majority concentrated in San
Felipe on the eastern coast.
When CIRVA first met, fisheries in the Gulf were changing. One scientist at the meeting noted that
catches of shrimp, the most valuable Gulf species after totoaba, had fallen from 7,000 metric tons to
2,000 metric tons between 1989 and 1992, a 71% decrease. xliii At the same time, fishermen were
switching from working on trawlers, a type of boat that is designed to drag fishing nets, to the much
smaller pangas.xliv 9
In the years following, illegal fishing began to escalate. A 2006 fisheries buyout program designed to
compensate fishermen for voluntarily turning in their fishing permits had little effect on its rise, in
part because participating fishermen were not required to turn in their fishing gear, but were required
to permanently leave the fishing sector.xlv In 2008, the program was restructured and improved, and
began to require that fishermen surrender their gear in addition to their permits.xlvi Although the
improved program initially reduced the legal fishing fleet by one third,xlvii CIRVA found that it had no
discernible effect on the number of pangas in the Gulf, and therefore likely had a negligible impact on
illegal fishing.xlviii

Current Enforcement Efforts

In recent years, the Mexican government has invested a substantial amount of time and resources into
the Gulf of California in an attempt to reduce illegal fishing and save the vaquita, but with few results.
Most attempts to make a difference in the Gulf have either had limited impact or, in some cases, have
contributed to the increase in criminal activity. In the spring of 2015, President Enrique Peña Nieto
announced his Integrated Strategy for the Recovery of the Vaquita, intended to bring together and
coordinate enhanced enforcement efforts between the various federal agencies and organizations
involved in the fight to reduce illegal fishing and save the vaquita. As part of this strategy, the Secretary
of SEMARNAT reported to CIRVA in May 2016 that surveillance operations had been intensified by
personnel from PROFEPA, SEMAR, the Federal Police, and CONAPESCA. SEMAR added that
they had obtained “a helicopter, Persuader and Maul marine patrol airplanes, six Defender rigid
inflatable boats, two jet skis, four interceptors, three small boats, five pick-up trucks, and two Unimog
vehicles” as well as a UAV (drone) system. xlix They also described their extensive anti-totoaba
trafficking efforts through May 12, 2016:

9Since pangas are used to set gillnets and fish for totoaba, an increase in the number of pangas in the Gulf is often
considered an indication of increasing illegal fishing activity.

14
 SEMAR has inspected 3,278 boats, 17,133 persons, 6,699 vehicles, 48 buildings, and
275 ships. It has deployed 1,244 personnel from the Navy, 289 from the Army, and
243 from other services. These personnel have seized or detained 122 small boats, 77
people, 20 vehicles, 79 totoaba specimens, 177 totoaba swim bladders, 600 gillnets or
pieces of fishing gear, and four larger vessels. They have inspected more than 120 tons
of fish products and more than 17 tons of equipment.l
SEMAR also claimed to have conducted 526 counter-totoaba trafficking investigations prior to May
2016.li Still, illegal fishing has not subsided, and no major prosecutions of Mexican totoaba traffickers
are known to have occurred.

Current Status of Totoaba Fishing and Illegal Gillnet Activity

Today, as in the past, totoaba fishing centers around the three main Gulf communities: San Felipe on
the eastern coast, the Golfo de Santa Clara to the north, and Puerto Peñasco on the western coast.
Until recently, the exact locations of illegal fishing activity in the Gulf were unknown; there simply
were not enough surveillance and enforcement boats in the water to systematically find illegal gillnets
and track the movements of totoaba fishermen. While “the true distribution of illegal totoaba gillnet
fishing” remains elusive, recent efforts by SEMAR and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS)
have shed some light on the situation.
In 2015, Sea Shepherd partnered with the
Mexican government to patrol the Upper
Gulf, pull up gillnets, and identify pangas
fishing illegally. At the end of the totoaba
season in the spring of 2016, Sea Shepherd
presented their results to CIRVA. Overall,
they had retrieved 42 illegal gillnets, 16
illegal longlines, and found many live and
dead marine animals – including two of the
three dead vaquitas discovered in March
2016.
Sea Shepherd’s gillnet retrieval data revealed
a heavy concentration of nets along the
western coast just north of San Felipe.
There are a number of potential
explanations for this heavy congregation of
fishing activity; for example, fishermen may
find it safer to fish close to shore, where the
chances of being caught in transit with
totoaba bladders are lower. This
explanation loses some credibility, however,
when fishermen from Santa Clara and Figure X. Sea Shepherd’s net retrieval data for the 2015 to
Puerto Peñasco on the east coast are taken 2016 season, as presented to CIRVA-7 in May 2016. 1

into account – if enforcement were a

concern, surely they would prefer to fish closer to home. But the most likely explanation comes from
the totoaba themselves. Each year, the fish return to spawn in the shallow water immediately adjacent
to the western coast, where they become vulnerable to entanglement in gillnets, or even to longlines

15
cast from shore. As a result, the presence of gillnets in this area is likely primarily a reflection of totoaba
movements.
It is also possible that, as CIRVA notes, the comparatively few nets found in the vaquita refuge and
near Santa Clara may be a reflection of Sea Shepherd’s and SEMAR’s limited ability to detect illegal
nets in deep water. Although the net retrieval data does not show high levels of activity near the
Colorado River, Sea Shepherd noted that the radar on their vessels pick up panga activity in that area.lii
In this case, strong currents in the Colorado River Delta prevent the safe removal of gillnets.liii
Despite the efforts undertaken as part of President Peña Nieto’s vaquita conservation strategy, net
retrieval data from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2017 indicate that illegal fishing remains
commonplace. In the fall, a multi-institutional program intended to identify, retrieve, and destroy
illegal fishing gear found a total of 136 pieces of “illegal, abandoned, or derelict fishing gear” in a small
section of the Upper Gulf.10 Between mid-December 2016 and April 8, 2017, Sea Shepherd detected
and retrieved an additional 202 illegal nets, including 171 totoaba gillnets, 21 illegal shrimp or corvina
gillnets, 21 longlines, and four bottom trawl nets.
Together, the efforts identified and removed 264 illegal gillnets, compared to 42 from the previous
year. Although the 2016-2017 data seems to indicate that the use of illegal nets has increased six-fold
since the 2015-2016 season, the increase is for the most part due to improvement in Sea Shepherd’s
and SEMAR’s net detection and retrieval capabilities.
One notable difference between this
year’s and last year’s data is the much
higher number of nets found within the
vaquita refuge and set close to San Felipe.
This change could be a result of the
shifting movements of fish in the Gulf,
or a reflection of the increasing boldness
of illegal totoaba fishermen. For instance,
according to Sea Shepherd, fishermen
that used to set out exclusively at night to
evade detection are now setting out in
broad daylight, perhaps aware that they
are unlikely to suffer negative
consequences.liv
Despite some remaining unknowns,
recent net retrieval data indicates that
illegal totoaba fishing in the Gulf has not
decreased in response to President Peña
Nieto’s vaquita recovery strategy.
Instead, some sources indicate that poor Figure X. Sea Shepherd’s net retrieval data for the 2016 – 2017
implementation of the 2015 gillnet ban season. Totoaba gillnets are yellow, and all other retrieved gear is
has led to increased illegal activity. white.

10PROFEPA, CONANP, and SEMAR all participated in the program, in addition to Sea Shepherd, the Whale Museum
of La Paz, and WWF. Of the 136 pieces found, 36 were totoaba nets, 36 were shrimp gillnets, and 24 were longlines.
Shrimp gillnets have also been known to kill vaquita. www.gob.mx/semarnat/prensa/retiran-redes-fantasma-en-el-alto-
golfo-de-california-para-proteger-a-la-vaquita-marina

16
2015 Gillnet Ban
The two-year gillnet ban in the Biosphere Reserve began in April 2015, and was intended to provide
the vaquita population with at least a two-year window to recuperate. To compensate gillnet fishermen
for their lost livelihoods, the Mexican government created a registry of all fishermen, fishing permit
holders, and fishing cooperatives in the Gulf that would be affected by the ban, and then dispersed
replacement income to those individuals. The program was funneled through permit holders and
cooperative owners, who registered the fishermen that they employed and divided up the bulk sum
they received from the government to each of their employees.
By the fall of 2015, the ban seemed to be working. According to CIRVA, there were almost no pangas
on the water during the fall 2015 shrimp season. But success was short-lived. CIRVA noted “extensive
evidence of illegal fishing for totoaba…during the months from December-May, clearly
demonstrating the inadequacy of the enforcement effort…”lv New net retrieval data from the fall of
2016 to the spring of 2017 reinforce and extend CIRVA’s finding to the 2017 totoaba and corvina
season.
The crux of the ban’s failure can perhaps be found in its accompanying reimbursement program.
According to those affected by it, the reimbursement program was deeply flawed. Some argued that
independent fishermen11 were not accounted for or compensated,lvi some said the payments were
insufficient,lvii and many others claimed the system was easily manipulated. According to reports, some
permit holders had listed family members and acquaintances as employees in order to receive a higher
payout. lviii Others allegedly did not disperse funds to their employees, or did not disperse them
equitably, preferring instead to keep the payments for themselves. The program’s failings, some argued,
pushed otherwise law-abiding fishermen to enter the totoaba trade. lix For example, in May 2016,
CIRVA members recognized that fishermen included in the ban’s registry had been caught illegally
fishing for totoaba with gillnets.lx
Sources for the below case study: lxi

The Armenta Family

The realization that a small fortune could be made from totoaba trafficking, and the subsequent entry of
organized crime into the communities surrounding the Gulf of California, have created an increasingly unstable
environment around the Gulf. One confrontation between suspected totoaba traffickers and local police in
March 2016 illustrated the volatility in the Gulf as each side jockeys to maintain, or win back, dominance in
the region.
In the early morning of March 23, 2016, two Sonora state police officers came across José Isaías Armenta
Armenta (known as “El Hermano Pepe”) and his wife Maribel near the public beaches of Santa Clara. What
happened next is subject to some debate, with locals claiming the official version of the story presents a partial
or inaccurate picture of what actually occurred. The general consensus is that the officers demanded Armenta
give them $30,000 or risk arrest. When Armenta refused or could not pay, the officers arrested him, hitting his
wife when she tried to intervene. The officers then took Armenta to a municipal judge, but did not have anything
to charge him with. The officers left to collect information, but returned with still no charges, so Armenta was
released. *
Later that same morning, two different police officers, Armando Arreola and Víctor Ramírez, were confronted
* A later, official version of the story claimed that Armenta had been arrested for “disturbing the peace” and driving through a zone where
no vehicles were allowed – this version also claimed the Armentas shot at the officers during the arrest. Another version claims that the
family and their associates had been up all night drinking and doing drugs before they were arrested for a traffic violation.


11Most fishermen in the Gulf of California work for fishing cooperatives or permisionarios (fishing permit holders), but
some hold their own permits and fish independently.

17
in the area near the public beach by a white Tahoe and a Ford pickup. One or more of the vehicles’ passengers
shot at the officers, hitting both. Stranded and seriously wounded, the officers called for help, and a cadre of
police officers set off in pursuit of both vehicles. The officers found the Tahoe parked near a mobile home, and
opened fire, killing Armenta (witnesses later stated that Armenta was shot after he had already surrendered).
The Ford was found on Guerrero Street, and one of its passengers, José Arturo Armenta Romero (Armenta’s 21-
year-old son), was arrested. Another five suspects – including José Arturo’s brother, Martín Isaac, and other
fishermen from Sinaloa state – were eventually arrested.

Image X. Mexican officials surrounding the home where José Isaías
Image X. José Arturo Armenta at the time of his arrest.
Armenta Armenta was killed. Source: B15 Noticias Source: ZETA Tijuana

In the days following, José Arturo and one other suspect were charged with murder and “injuries to the
detriment of two police officers.” José Arturo was also reportedly charged with stealing the vehicle he rode in
and “narcomenudeo,” or small-scale drug trafficking; one news report claimed that he had been found with
two packages of a drug called “ice” in his pockets at the time of his arrest. On March 28th, José Arturo’s mother,
Maribel Romero, went to the State Commission for Human Rights (the Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos)
to file a complaint, stating that her son had been beaten and tortured by officials after his arrest; that he had
bruises all over his face, jaw, ears, chest, and hands; and that he had lost consciousness as a result of the
beating. On March 30th, he was sent to the Social Re-Adaptation Center of San Luis Río Colorado, where he
apparently remains.
**********

In the aftermath of Armenta’s death, one former illegal fisherman described him as:
“…one of the principal [totoaba fishermen], he made a lot of money, but he was quiet, he didn’t mess with anyone, he
did illegal things but he was quiet. He was a buyer, he took them to Ensenada. One time he bought a new Dodge
Charger from Ensenada, brought $50,000 in payment for small totoaba buches, but on the way he was stopped and
robbed by federal officials.”

Armenta’s involvement in totoaba trafficking was also visible in other ways. One journalist noted how different
the Armenta’s house was from their neighbors, “Not only because of the big block fence, but also because of
its two floors, painted white and with columns painted the same shade around the house’s exterior.”
Despite Armenta’s involvement in totoaba trafficking, Armenta and his family members had been receiving
payouts through the government’s gillnet ban compensation system since its inception in the spring of 2015.
Armenta was registered as a “permisionario” under the system, meaning that he was responsible for distributing
compensation payments to the fishermen he employed, while his son José Arturo was registered as a fisherman.
Although Armenta was scheduled to receive monthly payments of 99,774.22 pesos (1,197,290.64 pesos
annually, or $64,412.76), compensation plan data from May to December 2015 reveals that Armenta received
1,287,601.17 pesos ($69,271.36) in eight months, about equivalent to 160,950.15 pesos per month. Over the
same time period, his son received the standard fishermen’s salary of 64,000 pesos ($3,443.12).
**********

Mexican officials launched an investigation into the events of March 23rd, including into the two police officers
that initially stopped and allegedly tried to extort Armenta. San Luis Río Colorado’s former mayor, Jorge
Figueroa, said, “It isn’t possible that agents of the state government would be corrupt and that the municipal
police would kill people, it isn’t possible that agents in Tijuana would discover fish of protected marine species
and find their origin to be the population of the Gulf of Santa Clara.”
Days later, in response to a reporter who had approached her as she drove a car with American plates through
Santa Clara, Maribel Romero said simply, “Talk to the people.”

18
Organized Criminal Involvement
The high profits and low risks associated with totoaba trafficking have attracted the attention of
organized criminal groups operating in Baja California and Sonora near the Gulf. These criminal
networks have benefited most from the confusion generated by the frequently changing and often
unclear federal fishing regulations created to save the vaquita.lxii Their intrusion into the totoaba trade
in 2013 or 2014 signaled a dangerous escalation for the entire region; they brought with them violent
competition, weapons, drugs, and increased corruption. One fisherman claimed that “while honorable
fishermen are prevented from leaving to work by the authorities, criminals in the service of the Pacific
or Sinaloa cartels that control [totoaba] trafficking infiltrate peaceful protests to generate violence and
distract the public so that they can leave to set their gillnets…”lxiii An NGO representative at CIRVA’s
Seventh Meeting in May 2016 reported that “the unstable socio-political environment in the Upper
Gulf over the last few months has seriously affected the implementation of projects in this region…the
involvement of organized crime in the illegal totoaba fishery, and the collusion of some officials with
these actions, has been a fundamental obstruction to progress.”lxiv
Since at least 2014, a number of deaths, attacks, and related incidents have been attributed to organized
criminal involvement in the totoaba trade:
• One protest in March 2017 ended with four PROFEPA inspectors injured; 28 officials from
SEMARNAT, CONAPESCA, AND CONANP hurt; public offices ransacked; and 15 official
vehicles set on fire.lxv
• On the evening of September 7, 2016, a crewmember of Sea Shepherd’s M/V Farley Mowat
received a phone call demanding that the Mowat not move south. According to the
crewmember, “They knew my name, my mother’s and daughter’s names, what I looked like,
a home address in Chile…They knew the boat’s name, its movements and said if we go back
south my daughter and I will be dead.” lxvi The callers identified themselves only as “the
cartel.”lxvii
• In March 2016, fighting between officials and a family suspected to be involved in totoaba
trafficking left one police officer and one fisherman dead (see The Armenta Family).lxviii
• Police chief Francisco Vázquez was shot and killed in September 2015, just prior to the
implementation of PESP’s counter-totoaba trafficking Coordinated Command strategy.lxix
• One murder of an alleged narcotrafficker in 2014 and two subsequent revenge killings of
another narcotrafficker and his bodyguard later that year, were reportedly driven by desired
control of the totoaba trade in Santa Clara.lxx
• Recently, stories have circulated in the Gulf of pangas found carrying totoaba bladders,
narcotics, and weapons, although definitive evidence of these instances cannot yet be found
in the open source.
In addition to the involvement of Mexican organized crime, multiple sources report that Asian
organized criminal networks based in California are involved in the trafficking aspect of the totoaba
trade (see Trafficking).

19
Sources for the below case study: lxxi

The Narcobucheros of Santa Clara

Nowhere are the links between totoaba and narcotics trafficking more apparent than in Santa Clara, if local
media reports detailing cartel involvement, violence, and revenge killings are any indication.
On June 11, 2014, Samuel Gallardo Castro was walking on the
beach in Santa Clara with his family when he was shot by someone
in a passing vehicle. Samuel, or “El Sammy,” was well-known to
his associates and neighbors as a narcotics trafficker working with
the Sinaloa cartel to move drugs from the Gulf of California to the
northern border with the United States.
But his death had little to do with narcotics. Peninsular Digital
reported that Gallardo had ostensibly left the drug trade in

Image X. Sammy Gallardo Castro prior to his death response to increased military pressure on drug operations
in 2014. Source: Peninsular Digital between 2010 and 2012. He had instead decided to apply his
business acumen to more simplistic endeavors, like the hotel and fishing businesses in Santa Clara, although
locals have claimed he did not leave drugs entirely behind (he allegedly moved between eight and ten tons
of marijuana on pangas through the Gulf from Sinaloa).
In part due to his role as the leader of the Upper Gulf Fishing Cooperative (Cooperativa Pesquera Alto Golfo),
Gallardo was able to position himself as one of the primary beneficiaries of the burgeoning illegal totoaba
trade, likely using his established expertise in trafficking illicit goods in the region to further extend his
influence. His rise was aided by his significant popularity. One of his former workers described him as the
“Robin Hood” of Santa Clara, distributing food to the needy when fishing was bad; one local journalist almost
admiringly portrayed his funeral as a mourning period for all of Santa Clara, writing of his funeral procession
passing by “the church, the San Antonio Hotel, and the ‘Cocodrilos’ bar (businesses created by the deceased),”
and adding, “The neighbors in Santa Clara…have showed their sadness and concern during the mournful
celebrations – with band music included – and given their last condolences to the relatives of the well-known
fishing businessman, hotelier, and narcotics trafficker…”
About a month and a half after Gallardo’s murder, David Guadalupe Fonseca turned himself into police. He
claimed that he had killed Gallardo over a $1 million debt that he claimed Gallardo owed him from a totoaba
shipment. But officials soon released Fonseca, explaining that they doubted both the validity of his story and
his mental state; besides, a more convincing story had emerged.
Locals loyal to Gallardo seemed to believe someone else was at fault entirely – another alleged drug trafficker,
Alfredo Colín Ortega, or “El Gordo Colín.” Colín was linked to the operations arm of the Arellano Félix cartel
in Tijuana, Mexicali, and San Luis Río Colorado. He had participated in the June 2006 ambush – involving
“large arms” and a grenade launcher – of the armored vehicle of the former Secretary of Public Security for
Baja California in Mexicali. After the assassination attempt failed, Colín spent a number of years in a maximum
security prison before returning to San Luis Río Colorado in 2013, where he “began to sow terror” by allegedly
ordering the murders of multiple men. At some point, he reportedly learned of the high profits that could be
his for a fraction of the risk if he were to switch to trafficking totoaba, but determined that one thing stood
between him and domination of the region’s totoaba trade – Sammy Gallardo. To clear his path forward, he
allegedly contracted a pair of pistoleros, or gunmen, to shoot Gallardo from a passing car.
But Colín’s newfound dominance was short-lived. On August 26th, six hooded men with guns and bullet-proof
vests arrived at Colín’s house in the early morning, dragged him out of bed, and shot him and his bodyguard
dead. Later that day, Mexican officials investigating the murders discovered several pangas and totoaba gillnets
in the courtyard of his house.
One local fisherman put it simply, “There are a lot of narcobucheros here. When there aren’t buches, they
traffic narcotics, or vice versa.”

20
Modus Operandi
As it has become increasingly clear to those on the Gulf of California that current enforcement efforts
are limited and prosecutions are almost nonexistent, totoaba fishermen have become increasingly bold.
In some cases, they live in large, luxurious houses, especially compared to the modest accommodations
of their neighbors. For example, one suspected totoaba fishing family lives behind “a big block fence”
in a house with two floors, painted white and complete with columns.lxxii Other fishermen have told
reporters and NGOs that totoaba fishermen are easy to spot; even though a panga fishing legally only
needs about two people to operate, pangas carrying five or more people are frequently seen leaving
from shore.lxxiii
Sources in the Gulf indicate that there are essentially three types of fishermen engaged in totoaba
fishing. The first group consists of normal fishermen who have independently taken up totoaba fishing,
perhaps as a result of the ban, to support their families, or simply to increase their incomes. The
second group also consists of normal fishermen, but these have been recruited by organized criminals
to fish on their behalflxxiv – they are supplied with the fishing gear they need and are paid by the
criminals they support.lxxv The third group is made up of criminals, often described as narcobucheros,lxxvi
who do the fishing themselves.
All three types of fishermen seem to follow the same patterns and use the same methods to obscure
their activity. The various modus operandi associated with totoaba fishermen include, but are not limited
to:
• Use of secret compartments onboard pangas
Totoaba bladders are rarely found on pangas, likely in part due to totoaba fishermen’s use of secret
compartments. In one instance in 2014, PROFEPA and SEMAR arrested a group of totoaba
fishermen as they were driving away from the Gulf in a truck hauling their panga.lxxvii After an
inspection, officials found six dead totoaba, seven totoaba fillets, and 12 totoaba bladders hidden
in a secret compartment of the boat.lxxviii In another seizure from January 2016, CONAPESCA
personnel came across a panga without a name or number,lxxix with two totoaba bladders stored in
a hidden onboard compartment.lxxx
• Operating at night
Until recently, totoaba fishermen
primarily operated at night to avoid
detection. lxxxi To counter this,
CONAPESCA announced in July
2016 that a ban on night fishing
would go into effect before the end
of the year, as part of additional
emergency measures to save the
vaquita. lxxxii Still, patrol vessels
continue to come across illegal
fishermen at night.
While night fishing may remain the
norm, it should be noted that illegal
Figure X. On December 12, 2016, Sea Shepherd and SEMAR worked
fishing during the day is escalating. together to interdict a number of pangas that were found fishing illegally
According to CIRVA, Sea Shepherd at night. Source: Sea Shepherd

21
 reported “recent daylight encounters between [Sea Shepherd] personnel and masked fishermen”
in November 2016.lxxxiii
• Launching from remote beaches and use of beach camps
According to PROFEPA, SEMAR, and local media accounts, illegal fishermen in the Gulf prefer
to launch from remote beaches, where the chances of discovery are remote.lxxxiv lxxxv Information
from SEMAR, combined with gillnet detection and totoaba seizure data, suggest that the beaches
extending from Puertecitos, through San Felipe, and over to Santa Clara are most likely to be
exploited by illegal fishermen.lxxxvi
These fishermen do leave behind traces, however. For example, totoaba crews will often leave a
car hidden on the beach in case they need to make a quick escape. In one case from March 2017,
authorities detected a boat illegally fishing in the vaquita refuge.lxxxvii When they attempted to
approach, the fishermen fled, and led the officials on an 80-kilometer chase to shore.lxxxviii The
fishermen were eventually caught when the getaway car they had hidden on the beach was trapped
by high tide.lxxxix
Similarly, some fishermen prefer to
conduct their illegal operations from
beach camps, rather than from one of
the shore-side towns along the Gulf.
Fishing camps have been documented
from Puertecitos to remote beaches
north of San Felipe.
In one instance in December 2015,
PROFEPA, SEMAR, and
CONAPESCA discovered an illegal
fishing camp near Puertecitos. xc The
fishermen at the camp managed to
escape, but officials recovered 16
totoaba gillnets and eight longlines from Figure X. Some of the nets found in December 2015 by PROFEPA,
the campsite. xci The total value of the SEMAR, and CONAPESCA at a Puertecitos fishing camp. Source:
recovered fishing gear was estimated at Zeta Tijuana
800,000 pesos, xcii or about $42,500
($1,770 per net).
• Unusually large crews
Fishermen claim that totoaba pangas are clearly discernible, given the unusually large size of their
crews.xciii As previously mentioned, totoaba crews typically number around five to seven men, far
more than the usual two needed for legal fishing.xciv
• Use of large-mesh gillnets
As discussed previously, totoaba fishermen primarily rely on large-mesh gillnets to entrap their
prey.xcv As gillnet detection efforts in the Gulf have increased in the recent past, Sea Shepherd has
noted that fishermen have been increasingly setting their nets and quickly retrieving them, hoping
to find even a few totoaba before surveillance or enforcement patrols arrive.xcvi In some cases,
when totoaba fishermen perceive enforcement pressure to be particularly high, they will simply
abandon their nets, preferring to purchase new ones rather than risk discovery.xcvii

22
 • At-sea totoaba bladder removal
To avoid having to bring totoaba back to shore, totoaba fishermen cut out their bladders at sea,
before throwing the fish back into the water. They then likely hide the bladders under their clothes
or in a small bag before returning to shore.xcviii xcix c
Some reports suggest that the fishermen place stones in the mouths of the fish to drag them under
water before throwing them overboard, in an attempt to prevent anyone from discovering dead
totoaba floating on the surface of the water. ci Regardless of whether the fish sink, the Gulf’s
currents often push the fish carcasses to the Gulf’s beaches, where they remain.cii
• Use of legal fishing permits and corvina fishing as a cover for illegal totoaba fishing
Totoaba fishermen likely use legal fishing permits to explain their presence on the water in the
event that they are found by enforcement. For instance, Sea Shepherd reported to CIRVA in May
2016 that illegal fishermen were using corvina or sport fishing licenses to hide their true activities.ciii
One seizure from early 2017 supported this statement. In January, military officials tried to stop a
Nissan Pathfinder on the highway between Puertecitos and San Felipe.civ The passengers of the
car tried to escape, throwing away 17 totoaba bladders in the process.cv According to media reports,
two fishing permits in the names of residents of San Felipe were discovered along with the
bladders.cvi
Prior to the gillnet ban, corvina fishing licenses in particular were vulnerable to exploitation by
totoaba fishermen for a variety of reasons. cvii First, the corvina fishing season overlaps with the
totoaba fishing season every winter and spring. Second, corvina fishermen also use gillnets,
although they use them to encircle fish, instead of leaving them hanging in the water.
Totoaba poachers have also been known to claim that they are sport fishing or just transiting
through the Gulf to excuse their presence on the Gulf at night.cviii

The involvement of organized criminal networks, and the professionalization of illegal totoaba fishing,
have transformed totoaba trafficking from a conservation issue into a regional security problem.
Although the Mexican government has recently taken steps to address the illegal totoaba trade as the
security threat it is, their efforts will be futile without investigations and prosecutions of high-value
targets. Until Mexican authorities are able to follow totoaba trafficking networks from low-ranking
and easily replaceable fishermen to the powerful individuals who direct them, illegal totoaba fishing
will continue, and the vaquita will be lost.

23
Trafficking
Estimated Totoaba Bladder Value in the U.S.: $5,000 per bladdercix

Once totoaba bladders are successfully brought to shore, they must be processed and trafficked to
their ultimate destination. While this leg of the supply chain leaves the least footprint – with no gillnets
or totoaba advertisements as evidence – seizure data can provide a window into the trafficking of
totoaba. For instance, seizure data from around the Gulf of California reveal that once totoaba
bladders reach the shore, they are generally transported to a consolidation point where they can be
processed prior to export. From there, they are either smuggled across the border into the United
States before shipment to Asian destination markets, or sent directly from Mexico.
Recently, however, as the totoaba trade has grown more prominent in the Gulf, and enforcement
officials in Mexico, the United States, and China have become more familiar with the issue, totoaba
networks have been forced to professionalize and move further underground. As a result, many of
the trafficking methods used for totoaba have begun to mirror those used by drug traffickers within
Baja California. For example, totoaba smugglers have been increasingly relying on more sophisticated
concealment techniques like hidden car compartments, rather than the coolers and backpacks that
were previously common.
This professionalization is also evident in a drop in totoaba seizures made at the U.S.-Mexico border
after 2013. While at least five totoaba bladder seizures were made at the border in the spring of 2013,
none appear to have been made since. Although it is possible that totoaba traffickers stopped using
the United States as a transit point in response to these seizures, overall totoaba trafficking activity
and one well-known court case from 2015 suggest that totoaba bladders continued to be smuggled
into the United States. It is therefore more likely that totoaba traffickers have found a new way to
move totoaba bladders through the United States without enforcement interference.

Processing and Consolidation

An analysis of totoaba seizure information sheds light on the processing and consolidation aspect of
the totoaba supply chain. Past totoaba seizure data suggestcx that fresh or wet bladders are usually
moved to consolidation centers in San Luis Río Colorado in Sonora or Mexicali, Tijuana, cxi or
Ensenada in Baja California.cxii The bladders are then put through a drying process using salt to ensure
their continued freshness.cxiii cxiv
Of those seizures that could be determined to be wet or dry, virtually all that took place close to the
Gulf in San Felipe, Puertecitos, the Golfo de Santa Clara, and San Quintin, or that occurred en route
to a known consolidation center (e.g. on the Mexicali-San Felipe highway or on the way to San Luis
Río Colorado), were of wet bladders. In February 2016, Mexican officials found two people with six
totoaba bladders at a military checkpoint on the San Felipe-Puertecitos highway.cxv After inspecting
the car and both of its occupants, SEDENA officials found six wet bladders wrapped in plastic and
taped to the body of one of the passengers. In another seizure from 2014, officials discovered six wet
totoaba bladders in a blue backpack behind the driver’s seat of a white sedan.cxvi The car had been
stopped on its way out of Puertecitos.
Once bladders reach the larger cities in Baja California and Sonora, locals claim that officials can no
longer find or confiscate them.cxvii Totoaba seizure data seems to support this claim; there has been
only one seizurecxviii in any of the four likely consolidation points since at least 2009, even though there

24
have been at least seven seizures of totoaba en route to one of these points in the same time period
(at least five of which were of wet bladders). The lack of seizures in any of the four consolidation cities
may be due to the difficulty of finding totoaba bladders when they are not in transit, or to higher levels
of corruption.

Figure X. Two individuals who were discovered trying to smuggle six wet totoaba bladders out of Puertecitos
by car. Source: Monitor BC

In two instances, wet bladders have been found hidden in coolers on their way out of Mexico. Both
seizures took place at the Calexico border crossing into the United States in the spring of 2013. Since
then, no other wet totoaba bladders have been found at any U.S.-Mexico border crossings. While it is
possible that traffickers have developed a new way to smuggle wet bladders across the border, the
simpler answer is that bladders are increasingly processed in Mexico, especially given the additional
cost and effort required to move wet bladders (which are heavier, smell more, and need to be kept
cold) versus dry bladders into the United States.cxix It naturally follows that dry bladders are more likely
to be smuggled out of Mexico, regardless of their destination.

Trafficking Routes within Mexico

Traffickers in the Baja California region, particularly those close to the Gulf, have limited
transportation options. There are only a few main roads connecting the major towns and cities in the
area, and airports only exist in the more populous cities (San Felipe, Tijuana, Mexicali, and Ensenada).
Furthermore, trafficking by plane is both more expensive and more difficult. For example, traffickers
trying to fly their fresh bladders to processing points closer to the border or in southern California
must develop methods to evade airport security and customs. As a result, traffickers are more likely
to choose the simpler, low-cost option and move their unprocessed bladders by land. Totoaba seizure
data reflects this reliance on the highway systems connecting Puertecitos to San Felipe; San Felipe to
Ensenada, Tijuana, and Mexicali; and the Golfo de Santa Clara to San Luis Río Colorado and Mexicali.
The routes from San Felipe to Mexicali-Tijuana-Ensenada appear to be particularly prominent.
According to various Mexican government agencies, over 4,000 totoaba bladders, worth about 300
million pesos or $15,942,531, have moved on these highways in the past 16 years.cxx These paths are

25
allegedly used frequently enough by narcotics and totoaba traffickers to have earned the nickname “la
ruta narcobuchera” – the narcobucheros route.cxxi

Image X. Totoaba seizures and highway systems in Baja California and Sonora, Mexico. Totoaba seizures in Mexico are
highlighted yellow, and highways commonly used by traffickers are blue.

A sample of drug seizurescxxii in the region from 2009 to 2016 reveal a similar pattern. Drug and
totoaba smuggling routes seem to overlap in particular at consolidation points in Tijuana, Mexicali,
Ensenada, and San Luis Río Colorado. Prior to consolidation, San Felipe stands out as both a totoaba
and drug hotspot.12 From the coast around Puertecitos and San Felipe, traffickers can choose one of
two ways to move their contraband to the consolidation cities by road: Highway 5 (San Felipe to
Mexicali) or Highway 3 (San Felipe to Ensenada).

12Some reports claim that drugs are moved across the Gulf in speedboats prior to landing on the beaches of the western
coast of the Gulf around Puertecitos and San Felipe – likely the same beaches used by totoaba fishermen.

26
Image X. Totoaba seizures and a sample of drug seizures superimposed over major highways in Baja California and
Sonora, Mexico.

The only alternative to driving the bladders to the cities is what locals call the “método hormiga,” or “ant
method,” meaning the wet bladders are moved in small quantities in coolers or bags across “gaps in
the desert” to towns farther north or along the west coast.cxxiii In order to traverse the mountainous
and fairly difficult terrain of Baja California without relying on the region’s major roadways, totoaba
traffickers would have to move bladders across the desert by truck, off-road vehicle, dirt bike, or on
foot. Regardless of the method chosen, crossing both the desert and the fairly forbidding San Pedro
Mártir mountain range seems to pose a significant challenge to any traffickers using this route. The
absence of totoaba seizure information for this area may signal that the route is too challenging to be
used often, or it could mean the exact opposite – that the region is remote enough to prevent effective
enforcement activity.13
However, given the challenging terrain, it could take traffickers as much as a week or more to move
totoaba bladders across the peninsula’s 85-mile width, raising the question of whether enforcement

13There has been at least one drug seizure in the San Pedro Mártir mountain range; in May 2015, Mexican officials
discovered 200 kilograms of marijuana, 90 kilograms of “crystal,” 50 kilograms of cocaine, and 30 kilograms of “opium
gum” in a truck with California plates in “the vicinity of the San Pedro Mártir mountain range.” “Asegura la Sedena 370
Kilos de Droga en San Pedro Mártir.” La Jornada Baja California. Desarrollo de Medios, SA de CV (DEMOS), 10 May 2015.
http://jornadabc.mx/tijuana/10-05-2015/asegura-la-sedena-370-kilos-de-droga-en-san-pedro-martir.

27
along the highway system is substantial enough to warrant the use of such a difficult route. The método
hormiga would be particularly problematic for smugglers of wet bladders, which need to be kept cold,
and make up the majority of bladders trafficked in this area. Further investigation of the desert route
is necessary to determine the frequency of its use, as well as the comparative benefit to totoaba
traffickers of using it, instead of the established highway system.
A third option combines the método hormiga with the use of the region’s roadways. Instead of smuggling
bladders across the Baja peninsula to Highway 1 on the west coast, it is possible that traffickers simply
use the método hormiga to move small quantities of bladders through the desert around established
checkpoints like El Chinero in Baja California and El Doctor in Sonora. This method would shorten
the week-long trek through the desert to a few hours or less, and would allow traffickers to circumvent
one of the riskiest portions of their route.

Trafficking Modus Operandi within Mexico14

Since about 2013, totoaba trafficking methods in Mexico have gradually shifted towards more
sophisticated techniques, largely in response to increasing enforcement pressure. Seizures in Baja
California and Sonora reveal some of the methods used to smuggle totoaba at this step of the supply
chain, and hint at the ongoing evolution of totoaba trafficking modus operandi:
• Bags, backpacks, and coolerscxxiv
A number of seizures in and around the Gulf of
California have highlighted traffickers’ use of bags
or backpacks to move bladders.
In one instance in March 2014 (mentioned
previously), officials discovered six wet totoaba
bladders weighing 8.2 kilograms in a backpack
behind the driver’s seat of a sedan with California
plates.cxxv The car had been stopped on its way from
Puertecitos to San Felipe on Highway 5.
A little over a year later in April 2015, Federal Police Image X. A cooler containing 22.18 kilograms of
totoaba bladders discovered in San Quintín.
officials came across two individuals walking along Source: Ensenada.net
the San Felipe – Mexicali highway (also part of
Highway 5) at night. cxxvi When the individuals
noticed the officials, they abandoned a backpack
they were carrying and “escaped into the foliage”
alongside the road. The officials discovered 90
bladders inside the backpack with a combined
weight of 25.5 kilograms, and worth about
$127,500.
In September 2015, officials in San Quintín on the
west coast of Baja California came across an Image X. Three wet totoaba bladders discovered
apparently abandoned Ford Explorer. cxxvii The in a car with California plates between Puertecitos
and San Felipe. Source: La Voz

14 Estimated prices based on a conservative estimate of $5,000 per kilogram of bladders.

28
 officials discovered a cooler in the back of the car containing 16 Ziploc bags of totoaba bladders
weighing 22.18 kilograms.
In December 2016, municipal and military officials stopped a Ford Mustang without license plates
on the San Felipe-Puertecitos highway (Highway 5).cxxviii After the officials inspected the vehicle,
they discovered three wet totoaba bladders in a black plastic bag in the car’s trunk, along with 60
corvina fish. The vehicle’s two passengers reported that they were moving the bladders from
Puertecitos to Mexicali.
• Taped to the trafficker’s body
In February 2016, SEDENA officials stopped a car at a military checkpoint on the road from
Puertecitos to San Felipe.cxxix After inspecting the car and its two passengers, officials discovered
that one passenger had six wet totoaba bladders wrapped in plastic bags and taped to his body
under his clothes.
• Spare tires
In March 2016, Federal Police officials stopped a 28-
year-old man from San Felipe for speeding, and
discovered 121 wet bladders in 33 black plastic bags
in the spare tire of the car.cxxx The entire haul weighed
39 kilograms and was estimated to be worth at least
$150,000. The suspect told the officials that he was
taking the totoaba bladders from Santa Clara to a
house in Tijuana.cxxxi
• Vehicle doors and hidden compartments
Image X. Two of 121 wet totoaba bladders being
On a number of occasions, Mexican officials have pulled out of black plastic bags hidden in the spare
discovered totoaba bladders concealed within vehicle tire of a GMC pickup truck. The 121 bladders
doors and hidden compartments. were destined for Tijuana. Source: Excelsior

In one seizure from March 2015, Mexican Army officials at the El Chinero military checkpoint
north of San Felipe found 34 totoaba bladders (weighing 23 kilograms) inside the doors of a white
Toyota.cxxxii The two suspects in the car at the time of the seizure reported that they had purchased
the bladders from fishermen in San Felipe and were taking them to Mexicali to sell them.
In another instance from May 2016, Federal Police
agents stopped a white sedan with Nevada plates on
the way to Mexicali (Highway 5) for an inspection.
cxxxiii
The agents found 11 wet totoaba bladders
stuffed in four plastic bags and hidden inside the
right rear door of the car. The driver of the car was
arrested.
In March 2017, state police and military officials
detected “irregularities” in a gray Infiniti at the El
Doctor military checkpoint on Highway 40 between
Santa Clara and San Luis Río Colorado. cxxxiv Upon Image X. Nine wet totoaba bladders discovered
further investigation, the officials discovered a cooler in a cooler in a hidden compartment of an
containing nine plastic bags of wet totoaba bladders Infiniti SUV between Santa Clara and San Luis
Río Colorado. Source: PESP Sonora

29
 within a hidden compartment. The driver and a passenger were arrested.
• Vehicle gas tanks
In March 2017, state police and military officials
operating the El Doctor military checkpoint
stopped a couple driving from Santa Clara to San
Luis Río Colorado along Highway 40. cxxxv The
officials found 24 wet totoaba bladders weighing
17 kilograms in plastic bags in the gas tank of the
couple’s vehicle. The accused were each fined
Image X. 24 wet totoaba bladders found in the gas
25,000 pesos (about $1,303 each, or 1.5% of the tank of a vehicle moving from the Golfo de Santa
estimated value of the totoaba bladders). Clara to San Luis Río Colorado on the Mexico – U.S.
border. Source: Contraseña

Seizure Parallels: Drug Trafficking Methods

Many of the trafficking methods used by totoaba smugglers can be seen reflected in common methods used
by drug traffickers.
• Taped to the trafficker’s body
In one instance in 2013, a Mexican woman was arrested attempting to enter the United States through the
Morley Pedestrian Gate in Sonora with more than a pound of methamphetamines hidden in spandex
underneath her clothes.
• Spare tires
In November 2016, U.S. CBP arrested an American man for attempting to smuggle over 40 pounds of cocaine
and methamphetamine into the United States through San Luis Río Colorado.
• Hidden compartments in vehicles
On July 24, 2016, CBP officers referred a woman’s car for a secondary inspection as she was trying to cross
the U.S.-Mexico border from Sonora. During the inspection, a CBP canine alerted to the presence of a hidden
compartment near the vehicle’s trunk. Inside, officials discovered over 37.5 pounds of heroin and four
pounds of cocaine.

Sources for the above seizures: cxxxvi

30
Trafficking Routes and Modus Operandi between Mexico and the U.S.
After arrival in Mexicali, Tijuana, Ensenada, or San Luis Río Colorado, totoaba bladders are generally
dried and repackaged for export to the United States. In 2013, a spate of seizures on the U.S. border
revealed the smuggling methods used by traffickers crossing into the United States, and highlighted
traffickers’ ability to sneak totoaba passed customs and enforcement officials undetected. Between
February and April 2013, U.S. CBP stopped at least five totoaba bladder trafficking attempts in
Calexico (across the border from Mexicali), seizing a total of 235 bladders. In three of the five cases,
the seized bladders were dry. In the other two, the bladders were likely on their way to processing
centers in the United States.
Totoaba Bladder Seizures at the U.S. – Mexico Border
• February 27, 2013 dry bladder seizure at Calexico East
On February 27, one individual, referred to in U.S. court documents only as JN, entered the Calexico East border
crossing with six dried totoaba bladders in his car. JN told CBP officials that he thought the bladders were squid, and
1

that another individual, Oi Chung, had paid him $150 to drive the bladders – worth an estimated $12,500 – into the
U.S. Officials seized the six bladders and released JN.
1

• March 30, 2013 dry bladder seizure at Calexico East

A little over one month later, Oi “Sean” Chung drove into Calexico East and was referred to secondary inspection. 11

CBP officials noted one cooler in his car containing fish and clams, as well as five dried totoaba bladders “hidden in
two duffle bags wrapped in clothing inside the vehicle.” Like in the case of JN, officials seized the bladders but allowed
1

Chung to leave.
In coordination with U.S. officials, JN later agreed to deliver the six bladders from the February 27 seizure to Chung. 1

On April 12, JN met Chung at a restaurant in Rosecrans, California to exchange the bladders for $1,000. Chung was 1

subsequently arrested and charged with smuggling 11 totoaba swim bladders in violation of CITES and U.S. law. 1

At an estimated price of $12,500, JN had received .08% of the bladders’ value. After the exchange, Chung was arrested
and charged with illegally smuggling endangered wildlife in violation of CITES and U.S. law.
• March 30, 2013 wet bladder seizure at Calexico West

Image X. Both the Best Western and the Walmart used by Jason Xie’s network are seen in satellite imagery of Calexico. Both
businesses are just over two miles from the Calexico West border crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border. Source: Google Earth

31
The first of the two wet bladder seizures occurred on March 30 at the Calexico West border crossing. According to
t

court filings made public by the U.S. Department of Justice, Anthony Sanchez Bueno arrived at Calexico West in the
late morning, driving a Plymouth Voyager with California plates. Sanchez Bueno told the CBP inspector that
approached his car that he was “bringing in fish to take to a church he could not further identify as a favor for a friend.”
1

Consistent with Sanchez’s claim, the inspector discovered three coolers in the back of the vehicle, and opened the
first. He found that the cooler’s top layers of fish fillets and ice were hiding a lower layer of swim bladders.
Sanchez Bueno then told a second inspector that he was carrying fish. When confronted with the hidden bladders, he
admitted to having swim bladders as well. A more thorough inspection of the coolers in the car revealed 102.65
kilograms of totoaba bladders, taken from at least 170 different fish. The entire haul was worth an estimated $850,000
in the United States. 1

Sanchez Bueno told investigators that he had been paid $700 to smuggle the bladders into the United States - $200
per cooler, plus an additional $100 for gas and lunch. He claimed that he had driven two coolers of product into the
United States in February as well, and had delivered those coolers to an Asian man in the parking lot of Calexico’s
Walmart.
This time, Sanchez Bueno had received instructions to deliver the three coolers not to the Walmart in Calexico, but to
the neighboring Best Western. In order to identify the individuals actually managing this smuggling operation, CBP
officials, along with HSI and FWS agents, set up a controlled delivery of the bladders to the Best Western in question.
The resulting investigation uncovered what appeared to be a totoaba smuggling and money laundering network
operating out of the United States, and extending into Mexico and China. See Shell Network for more details.
• April 1, 2013 wet bladder seizure at Calexico West
Two days later on April 1, Raquel Castañeda arrived at Calexico West just after 7 am. She told the CBP inspector that
1

approached her car that she was on her way to San Diego to “return some items she had purchased and to visit her
brother.” The inspector, however, noticed a cooler in the back of the vehicle and, aware of smugglers’ use of coolers
1

to transport totoaba, decided to open it for further inspection. Inside, the top layers of whole fish, fish fillets, and
1

shrimp hid a lower layer of 28 swim bladders, which Castañeda claimed were squid. The bladders together weighed
1

16.02 kilograms, and were estimated to be worth between $42,000 and $80,100. 1 1

In secondary questioning, Castañeda maintained that she was traveling to San Diego to see her brother. She then
revealed that she and her husband jointly owned a seafood restaurant in Mexico, and that she was bringing the fish
into the United States from San Felipe. Despite her clear involvement in the seafood trade in and around the Gulf, she
11

claimed that she was not aware that totoaba are a protected and endangered species. 1

• April 10, 2013 dry bladder seizure at Calexico West

The final 2013 border seizure involved Song Shen Zheng (mentioned previously), and led U.S. agents to the largest
totoaba drying operation uncovered to date.

Sources for the above seizures: cxxxvii

Taken together, these seizures share a few characteristics that can be considered “red flags” for future
totoaba smuggling attempts:
• Use of coolers
Totoaba traffickers often rely on coolers to keep wet bladders fresh in transit.
Three of the five totoaba seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border involved the use of coolers (although
in the first case, the totoaba bladders were dry and had been stored elsewhere in the vehicle). In
at least one instance, the arrested trafficker indicated that he had moved wet bladders in coolers
over the border previously as well.
Note that since coolers are only associated with the trafficking of wet bladders, the more that
having a cooler becomes a red flag for customs officials at the border, the more processing
activities will occur within Mexico, rather than in the United States. This holds true for trafficking
and processing operations within Mexico as well; the more enforcement pressure is placed on
traffickers with coolers at military checkpoints on the way to the cities along the border, the more

32
 processing will take place closer to the Gulf, making the identification of smuggled totoaba more
difficult in the earliest steps of the totoaba supply chain.
• Hidden under frozen fish
Totoaba traffickers generally attempt to hide wet bladders under other types of frozen fish,
perhaps hoping that untrained enforcement officials will not be able to tell the difference.
There is also evidence of totoaba being packed in frozen fish before export from the Americas to
Asia by air or by sea. This may be for the same reason that other types of traffickers use frozen
fish to obfuscate their contraband; the strong smell of fish products is thought to throw off sniffer
dogs.15
• Claims that the bladders are “squid”
Although the majority of the spring 2013 seizures appear to be associated with distinct trafficking
networks, two traffickers in separate trafficking instances told U.S. officials that the bladders in
their cars were squid.
In the first case, the smuggler, JN, appeared to be a trafficking mule16 working for Oi Chung, with
little knowledge of the totoaba issue. In the second case, Raquel Castañeda seemed more involved
– given her position as a seafood restaurant owner around San Felipe – but did not appear to be
managing the export of bladders to China, like identified traffickers Song Shen Zhen or Jason Xie.
The appearance of the squid explanation in unrelated smuggling events may be indicative of a
belief amongst traffickers that this explanation can convince customs officials at the border of
totoaba bladders’ legality.
Past seizures can also expose some of totoaba traffickers’ underlying operations:
• Trafficking “mules”
A number of totoaba traffickers caught at the border have been trafficking mules. In totoaba
networks overall, however, the individuals acting as cross-border traffickers seem to vary. In some
cases, a mule fills the role, but in others, the higher level traffickers themselves take the part. Which
type of trafficker is involved may be determined by network size; in smaller scale networks, the
organizing trafficker may be involved in moving totoaba as well, while in larger networks, the
organizing trafficker may prefer to contract out to a trafficking mule.
The distinction blurs, however, when higher level traffickers both hire individuals to move totoaba
and move the bladders themselves. Oi Chung, for example, both paid JN $1,150 to drive bladders
over the border and did it himself one month later.
• Repeat offenders
The recurring involvement of relatively few individuals in totoaba seizures at the border may
indicate that totoaba trafficking efforts are often successful, as evidenced by the seizure of 274
bladders at Song Shen Zhen’s home in Calexico. It may also indicate that totoaba trafficking
penalties are too low to act as a meaningful deterrent (with fines often as low as 10% or less of

15 For example, in one seizure in Ensenada in 2012, the Mexican Army discovered 425 kilograms of marijuana inside a
truck and hidden in boxes containing frozen fish. www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2012/415394/6/ejercito-mexicano-
decomisa-drogas-y-pirotecnia-en-bc.htm
16 Couriers with limited knowledge of the trafficking supply chain.

33
 the price of one bladder), or that the chances of getting caught are low enough for traffickers to
risk multiple attempts.
• Involvement of restaurant owners
Some sources suggest that, as in the case of Raquel Castañeda, totoaba trafficking networks often
tie back to restaurants in Mexico, the United States, and Asia.cxxxviii Certain restaurant owners in
the Americas have allegedly facilitated the movement of totoaba through Mexico and the United
States to Asia, reportedly keeping some of the bladders for use in their own restaurants.cxxxix cxl cxli
• Shell companies
In some cases, totoaba trafficking operations seem to be sufficiently lucrative to warrant the
creation of apparent shell companies.
For instance, the investigation following the March 30, 2013 seizure involving Anthony Sanchez
Bueno revealed links between a higher level trafficker, Jason Xie, and a recycling company. C4ADS’
analysis of this company revealed only limited business activity; although the company claimed to
be engaged in recycling activities, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) information revealed
that the company only had one registered driver.cxlii In addition, the company does not appear to
have maintained a public presence at its registered address during its five-year period of operation.
During the same time period, Xie received about $4 million in payments originating in China, up
to $2.1 million of which remained unaccounted for at the time of his restitution hearing in 2014.
One possible explanation for this could be that Xie was using this recycling company to move
money associated with his totoaba trafficking activities. See Shell Network for more information
on Xie and his network.
• Trafficking supplies provided to cross-border traffickers
The materials used to traffic totoaba across the border (e.g. cars, coolers, additional fish products)
are likely supplied to trafficking mules in Mexico.
For example, Anthony Sanchez Bueno reported to U.S. officials that he had delivered two coolers
containing fish fillets and totoaba bladders to an Asian man in Calexico prior to his implication in
the March 30, 2013 seizure.cxliii He stated that the man had given the fish fillets back to him, and
“told him to return them to the man who had given him the coolers in Mexico.”cxliv Sanchez Bueno
then reached out to his contact in Mexico, but was instructed to keep the fillets.cxlv He admitted to
U.S. agents that he knew “there was something illegal about the swim bladders, and that the
purpose of the fillets was just to conceal [them]…”cxlvi Sanchez Bueno’s testimony demonstrates
that he had been given the coolers and the entirety of their contents prior to departing for the
United States.

34
Shell Network
On March 30, 2013, Jason Jin Shun Xie was arrested during a controlled delivery of 169 totoaba bladders in
Calexico, California. A FWS-led investigation of Xie’s assets revealed that he had dealt in considerable sums
of money, receiving over $3 million in wire transfers alone over an eight-month period. Court documents and
C4ADS’s analysis suggests that Xie may have been relying on a network of companies – including shell
companies – to launder the profits he received through totoaba trafficking, and to obfuscate the true nature of
his activities.
In court documents from Xie’s March 2014 restitution hearing, he is associated with two companies: Gerber
Recycling, a Sacramento-based recycling company, and J&J Xie & Company, which owns a Chinese restaurant
in Seattle. Although the restitution hearing documents refer multiple times to “J&J Xie & Company,” C4ADS’s
analysts could not find references to a company bearing this name in the open source. There is, however, a
“J&J Xie Corporation” registered in Washington state and owned by Jin Z. Xie, Xie’s brother. The restitution
hearing transcript reveals that Xie told authorities that he and his brother were planning to open a restaurant in
Seattle, and were in the process of obtaining a lease for the restaurant. The prosecutors in Xie’s case believed
him to be referring to the Purple Dot Café, the Chinese restaurant owned by “J&J Xie & Company” in Seattle.
However, at the time of the hearing, the Purple Dot Café had been open and active since at least 2007.
A search for the Café’s current phone number revealed one possible, although partial, explanation for this
discrepancy. The Café’s phone number and address used to link to a Saam Tai Enterprise Limited.* This
company’s registration expired on September 30, 2013, and became inactive just over three months later, in
January 2014. The registration documentation for J&J Corporation, by contrast, became active on July 26, 2013.
It seems feasible then that the Xie brothers purchased the Purple Dot Café from its original owners sometime
in 2013, possibly with totoaba trafficking proceeds.
Although the brothers’ initial involvement with the Purple Dot Café remains somewhat unclear, the company
clearly conducts legitimate business activities; the Café is easily discoverable, and dozens of customer reviews
support its existence. Gerber Recycling’s operations, by contrast, were far less evident. Although Gerber was
active between July 2010 and September 2012,** the company’s 8390 Gerber Road address appeared to be
occupied by an automotive center in April 2012. At the time, a large “For Lease” sign hung in the building’s
central window.

Image X. Purple Dot Café in September 2016. Image X. 8390 Gerber Road in April 2012. Sources: Google Maps

U.S. DOT information (current as of June 2017) for Gerber Recycling shows that the company had one driver,
an undisclosed number of vehicles, and zero inspections (see below). Furthermore, customs and trade data for
the United States revealed that Gerber did not import or export anything during its brief period of operation.

35
 Gerber Recycling seems to be the first of a string of short-lived recycling
companies likely owned by Xie in Sacramento. California business
records revealed that three other companies, J&J Recycling Center, J&P
Recycling Center, and W.S. Recycling Center were all registered in
Sacramento, California under Jason J. Xie or Jason Xie between April 26
and May 19, 2011. Each company, including Gerber Recycling,
maintained their fictitious name filings for exactly five years before
expiring without renewal. Each company is almost nonexistent in the open
source, and each company’s address links back to a building with no
Image X. U.S. DOT information for
apparent connection to the company allegedly based there.
Gerber Recycling
Not one of these companies have import or export trade data that could explain the $2.3 million in wire
transfers from China that Xie received between August 16, 2012 and March 7, 2013. Instead, the only
potential explanation is a number of shipments sent by Xie to a contact in Asia during the time period in
question. Xie sent 15 Federal Express packages that were declared as shipments of “dry fish gift,” each to the
same individual who was responsible for wiring Xie the entirety of the $2.3 million.
The U.S. prosecutor for Xie’s case estimated
that these unseized shipments contained at
least 560 dried totoaba bladders, based solely
on those shipments with a declared weight.
These 560 bladders would have been worth
about $2.8 million total for Xie, and would
have sold for much more in China and Hong
Image X. The reported address for J&P Recycling in August 2011. Source:
Google Maps Kong.
This estimate is plausible given both the $2.3 million in wire transfers Xie received, and an estimate of Xie’s
income provided by an official witness during the restitution hearing. This witness analyzed four bank
accounts held by Xie at Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, and determined that he had received $930,002
in cash and $3,073,861 in wire transfers, for a total of $4,003,863.
In Xie’s hearing, however, the court acknowledged that Xie’s net income was only $165,000 at the time of
his trial. What then happened to the majority of Xie’s income?
• According to the same witness, Xie sent at least $515,000 in wire
transfers to a “casa de bolsa”*** in Mexico between November
2012 and late June 2013.
• Xie wired an additional $174,150 to unknown recipients.
• Xie withdrew $117,483 in cash.
• Xie had a total amount of debits and checks totaling $1,056,174.
• Just twelve days prior to his arrest, Xie purchased a $375,000
home in Seattle. Despite the value of the home, Xie only paid
Elizabeth and Andy Chang “ten dollars and other good and
valuable consideration in hand paid” for the property. Information
on the other goods that were exchanged to make up the difference
is not publicly available.
These estimated deductions from Xie’s accounts come to just under $2
million, leaving an additional $2.1 million unaccounted for.****
The creation of multiple similar companies in quick succession, with little
to no traceable public presence, is common in shell company networks.
Pair this with large sums of money moving to unknown destinations in a
relatively short timeframe, and the most likely scenario becomes that the
companies are designed to hold large sums of money to hide or obfuscate Image X. Sale document for the Seattle
the footprints of organized criminal activity. residence to Jason Xie, on March 18, 2013.

36
At the time of Xie’s sentencing, the presiding judge stated,
[Xie] was the operator here. He was coordinating with people in Mexico to capture these
fish, to harvest them, to take the bladders, and arranging to have them transported to the
United States where he met with the person who brought them across the border and made
all the arrangements to ship them to China, and as far as the Court can tell from the financial
documents I have, the money went to him, and he was much more than a middleman here…
In the end, Xie received four months of jail time; eight months of house arrest; and forfeited 170 totoaba
bladders (valued at $255,000 in Mexico and $850,000 in the United States), the property in Seattle valued
at $375,000, and $500,000 for restitution to a totoaba breeding facility in Mexico.

* Although the Washington Secretary of State website lists “Saam Tai Enterprise Limited,” most other open source websites give the
company’s name as “Tai Saam Enterprise Limited.”
** At which point court testimony states that Xie sold Gerber Recycling to an unknown party. The company has since had virtually no
online footprint, and the fictitious business name filing reserving its name expired in July 2015 and was not renewed, suggesting that
Gerber Recycling is no longer in operation.
*** A money exchange or brokerage house.
**** Note that the judge in Xie’s restitution hearing examined the submitted financial documents of the case, and came to the conclusion
that only $231,000 of the $4 million remained unaccounted for, although she acknowledged that she was unaware of what the
$3,800,000 that left Xie’s accounts had purchased, or where it had gone.
Sources for the above case study: cxlvii

Analyzing these five border seizures in the context of the totoaba supply chain as a whole reveals a
number of inconsistencies. First, as discussed previously, no other totoaba bladder seizures have been
reported at the U.S. border since the spring of 2013. But information from the 2013 cases revealed
that many hundreds of bladders had been successfully smuggled into the United States previously,cxlviii
and FWS information from 2016 suggests that bladders have been found in the United States since.
How then can it be that there have been only five bladder seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border, and all
of them in the space of a couple months?
Second, although a number of totoaba seizures in Mexico have involved finding bladders hidden in
spare tires, taped to the bodies of passengers, and stuffed in secret compartments within the traffickers’
cars, none of the seizures at the border have involved these more complex smuggling methods.
The clearest explanation for this is that the series of seizures at the border pushed traffickers to find
better, more efficient ways to move bladders into the United States.17 In response, processing may
have begun to shift southward, and traffickers may have increasingly opted for more inventive
smuggling methods to better evade detection.
But processing moving southward and the development of ever-more complex smuggling methods
does little to explain why totoaba seizures have reportedly occurred exclusively at the Calexico border
crossing. Past seizures on the Mexican side of the border clearly demonstrate the presence of totoaba
bladders in Tijuana as well. For example, in April 2014, two Chinese individuals were detained after
they failed to adequately explain the origins of 2.76 kilograms of dried totoaba bladders and 4.62
kilograms of sea cucumbers found in their car.cxlix Similarly, San Luis Río Colorado is a prominent
processing center, and likely trafficking point, for bladders moving across the border into Yuma.cl Yet
there have been no reported totoaba seizures in or around San Luis Río Colorado.

17The recent dearth of seizures at the border could also be indicative of a shift towards eastern trafficking routes, where
authorities tend to be less aware of the totoaba trafficking issue. However, little evidence currently exists to support this
theory.

37
Taken together, this information suggests that a large number of totoaba bladders may be successfully
smuggled into the United States each year.

Involvement of Asian Organized Crime

Chinese immigration to Baja California, particularly Mexicali and Tijuana, dates back to at least the
early 1900s. The Chinese population of Mexicali in particular began to grow during Prohibition in the
United States, when Americans began to travel south of the border to purchase the alcoholic drinks
they could no longer buy at home.cli In response to the sudden influx of American demand, Chinese
laborers and farmers in the surrounding areas moved to Mexicali to open bars, casinos, restaurants,
and hotels in the city’s quickly growing Chinesca district. Within a few years, Chinesca “housed
virtually all of the city’s casinos and bars, and an underground tunnel system connected bordellos and
opium dens with Mexicali’s counterpart city on the U.S. side, Calexico.”clii
By 1920, the rapid arrival of Chinese immigrants to Mexicali meant the city’s Chinese population
outnumbered its Mexican population by about 14:1. Seven years later, Chinese businesses had grown
prominent enough to prompt a series of Tong warscliii in Mexicali and elsewhere in northern Mexico
“over control of gambling and prostitution rings.”cliv clv
Chinese immigration to the area continued throughout World War II, but began to slow in the years
following, until the Mexican population grew to outnumber the Chinese remaining in the city. By the
early 2000s, the Chinese population of Mexicali had fallen to about 5,000.18 clvi
In more recent years, Mexicali’s reputation as the Mexican city with the largest Chinese population
was passed to Tijuana, whose Chinese population recently tripled from 5,000 in 2009 to 15,000 in
2012. This dramatic increase has been attributed in part to the creation of a direct flight on Aeroméxico
from Tijuana to Shanghai in 2008, making Tijuana Airport the only Mexican airport to offer a direct
route to China.clvii clviii clix
Since then, Chinese involvement in the totoaba trade in Mexico has become increasingly overt. For
instance, Chinese citizens and expatriates have been found smuggling totoaba bladders across the
border into the U.S., moving bladders within Tijuana, and trafficking them directly from Tijuana to
Shanghai. Totoaba traders in Hong Kong and China have also reported that “Chinese immigrants in
Mexico were involved in facilitating the trade [in totoaba bladders].” clx For example, in 2015,
Greenpeace reported that totoaba traders had told them that the price for totoaba bladders began
falling in 2013 “after a number of Chinese citizens moved over to the coast of San Felipe…”clxi
The opening of the direct flight has also provided Chinese traffickers with an additional trafficking
route. In one instance, Mexican Federal Police discovered a large quantity of bladders during a random
search of three suitcases in Tijuana Airport that were en route to Shanghai. In addition, one ex-
PROFEPA official claimed that late night flights to Shanghai do not go through standard screening,
saying, “The key is the flights that leave at two in the morning for Shanghai. They aren’t reviewed.”clxii
Furthermore, the organized criminal elements of certain Asian communities in the region have the
capabilities necessary for involvement in totoaba trafficking. Asian organized criminal groups’ long
history of engaging in smuggling activity across the U.S. border, combined with their long-standing

18Mexicali reportedly still possesses the highest number of Chinese restaurants per capita of any city in Mexico, with about
100 restaurants serving a total population of just under one million.

38
reliance on complex tunnel systems in border towns like Mexicali, and their close ties to individuals
based in the United States and Asia, make these groups well-suited to smuggling totoaba bladders.
A number of Mexican and American officials have mentioned the involvement of Asian organized
crime in totoaba trafficking, and highlighted the groups’ expertise in cross-border trafficking. One
security official in Baja California mentioned that “Chinese criminals…traffic in endangered animal
species, including local species such as…the fish totoaba…which are smuggled back to China.”clxiii
Another official, Marco Antonio Carrillo Maza, the director of municipal public security for Tijuana,
pointed out that while Asian organized criminal groups in the Gulf are primarily involved in human
trafficking, they also smuggle endangered animal species, counterfeited goods, opium, and chemicals
used to manufacture methamphetamines.clxiv Finally, a U.S. FWS official noted the ease with which
Chinese gangs smuggle totoaba across the U.S. border:
Many Chinese gangs operating in Mexico smuggle [totoaba bladders] north to
California. Business owners confirm that it is easy to get merchandise across the border
without export fees, paperwork, or even an inspection, simply by bribing border
officials, who reportedly wave through Chinese textiles and appliances every day.clxv
The extent to which these networks are involved in the illegal totoaba trade, however, remains unclear.
Their involvement in smuggling a wide variety of contraband suggests that they are opportunistic
traffickers, and will move whatever brings in profit. They may only be involved in the transport of
bladders – or they may derive a large portion of their income from totoaba. Regardless, additional
information is needed on the overlaps between Mexican trafficking networks closer to the Gulf, and
Asian, or Asian American, trafficking networks closer to the U.S. border, to be able to make this
determination. It is clear, however, that the influx of Chinese immigrants into Baja California has had
an impact on totoaba poaching in the Gulf, as well as totoaba trafficking from Mexico to Asia and the
United States.

Trafficking Routes and Modus Operandi between North America and Asia
The Americas to Asia leg of the supply chain seems to be dominated by Chinese individuals or
expatriates living in Mexico and the United States. Most seizures at this level seem to involve Chinese
middlemen arranging for the export of bladders from the west coast of the United States or Mexico
to China or Hong Kong.clxvi This portion of the supply chain is also where totoaba traffickers overlap
the most with commercial transportation systems; anything leaving the west coast of the Americas for
the eastern coast of Asia must go through one of relatively few major airports or sea ports.

39
19

Only about six seizures of totoaba shipments in

transit to Asia have been reported. A couple “International [totoaba] trafficking is
additional seizures allegedly of totoaba can be done primarily through shipments in
found in local media accounts, but they do not
follow the usual pattern seen with totoaba containers mixed with other marine
shipments, and their identification as totoaba is products, by parcel service, and
contested by law enforcement officials hidden in luggage.”- PROFEPA
contacted by C4ADS. For the purposes of this
report, these seizures are not considered to be
reflective of totoaba smuggling methods, and have been removed from the below analysis.
The modus operandi used by traffickers moving buches to Asia often reflect the methods used by cross-
border traffickers. For instance, the pattern of restaurant owners’ involvement in totoaba trafficking
seems to hold true throughout the supply chain. 20 clxvii One Mexican journalist noted,

19 Any location that is not specified as an airport or sea port refers to both ports for that city (e.g. “Los Angeles, USA”

refers to both the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Airport). In the case of Japan, Mexican officials have mentioned
its use as a transit hub for totoaba passing through to China, but no cities, airports, or sea ports have been specified.
20Oi Chung, for example, may have been trafficking totoaba bladders not only for export to China, but also to his own
restaurant in Rosecrans, California; Jason Xie was in the process of opening a Chinese restaurant in Seattle, Washington
with his brother Jin Xie.

40
 “…restaurant owners of Chinese origin of both the area of Oakland, San José,
Sacramento, and southern California, order bladders to sell them in soups in their
businesses, but also to transport them to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, through the
port of San Francisco…Often in [Calexico] Chinese businessmen receive the
merchandise and move it to the destination, where they have restaurants, or to San
Francisco, where they pack the cargo and send it via boat to Hong Kong, Taiwan, China
and Vietnam.”clxviii
These seizures and other publicly available information about past totoaba trafficking cases in the
Unites States reveal additional similarities, as well as a few methods unique to this portion of the
supply chain.
• Hidden in fish and other food products
Fish products remain a popular obfuscation method for totoaba shipped to Asia.
On May 22, 2013, Mexican officials in Ensenada opened a shipping container bound for Vietnam
and packed with various fish products for a routine health inspection. Customs agents found that
the contents of the container did not match the information listed on the shipment paperwork,
and when the consignment’s shipper, Mar de Coruña S de RL de CV, could not provide
documentation proving the legality of the shipment, the agents decided to open a second container
owned by the company. This container’s contents also did not match its associated paperwork,
and this time included 142.8 kilograms of dried totoaba bladders, 108 kilograms of totoaba fillets,
and 17,430 kilograms of “fish swim bladder.” See Convenience Trading & Mar de Coruña for
more information.
In at least one instance, totoaba traffickers have relied on food products other than fish to
obfuscate bladders.
On August 10, 2015, Hong Kong Customs
identified a shipment of three totoaba bladders “in
a transshipment express cargo” at Hong Kong
Airport. The three bladders weighed only 0.635
kilograms, but were valued at HKD300,000 (or
about $38,000 USD). The bladders were discovered
when customs officials at the airport noticed
“suspicious images” in the X-rays of an express
cargo shipment that had been declared as “corn Image X. The three totoaba bladders found in
flakes sample.” The shipment had originated in an express shipment of corn flakes. Source:
Mexico, transited through the United States, and Hong Kong Customs
was destined for mainland China.
• Shell or front companies
As in the case of Jason Xie, shell and front companies are likely used to both launder the large
sums of money associated with totoaba trafficking, and to hide totoaba bladders amongst
shipments of other goods.
In one well-known case from the United States, a Los Angeles-based furniture company and its
owner, Kam Wing Chan, were charged with smuggling totoaba bladders and other other
endangered marine animal products in 2015.clxix Kam Wing Chan’s company, Kaven Company,
had been purchasing and importing the illegal products from suppliers in Mexico before exporting

41
 them to Convenience Trading Co., Ltd., a Hong Kong-based furniture company. A subsequent
investigation by U.S. officials found that the owner of Convenience Trading, “Faye Chan” (or
Chan Shek Ying on official Hong Kong documentation), is a close relative of Kam Wing Chan
(see Rich Maw-hogany).clxx clxxi
• Trafficking mules
Although the seizures made thus far do not clearly reflect the use of trafficking mules to move
totoaba between the continents, it is widely suspected by law enforcement officials and others that
certain individuals are paid to carry dried totoaba bladders in their carry-ons or checked baggage
through American and Asian airports.clxxii clxxiii One Hong Kong-based trader told Greenpeace in
2015 that Hong Kong Customs was “free entry,” and explained that bladders were sent to Hong
Kong in checked luggage each month.clxxiv The unfamiliarity of most customs and airport officials
with totoaba bladders, as well as the remote chance that scanners will be able to pick up the
presence of bladders, likely contribute to the supposed success of this strategy.
• Use of checked baggage
According to Mexican government sources, dried totoaba bladders are often hidden in checked
luggage by passengers transiting from the Americas to Asia.

Image X. Various photos of the 274 totoaba bladders discovered wrapped in blotting paper, placed in vacuum bags,
and stuffed in three suitcases in Tijuana Airport. Source: PROFEPA

In one instance in July 2015, Mexican Federal Police discovered 274 dried totoaba bladders
(weighing 34.78 kilograms) en route to Shanghaiclxxv in three suitcases during a random search of
passenger luggage in Tijuana Airport.clxxvi The bladders had been wrapped in drying paper and
stored within vacuum bags “so that the product would not bulge or smell.” Officials immediately
identified and arrested the three Chinese owners of the bags.
• Reliance on air freightclxxvii
Totoaba smugglers have also been known to use air
freight shipments to transport totoaba bladders across
the Pacific.
On November 19, 2014, Mexican customs officials
discovered 385 dry totoaba bladders at the Mexican
Mail facility at Mexico City Airport.clxxviii The bladders
had been placed in black plastic bags in three packages
that had originated in Mexicali Airport and were Image X. Some of the totoaba bladders
destined for China.clxxix discovered in the November 19, 2014 seizure.
Source: PROFEPA

42
 In addition, court documents associated with Jason Xie and packaging materials found in the home
of Song Shen Zhen suggest that both traffickers relied on air couriers like FedEx to transport
totoaba shipments from the United States to China and Hong Kong.clxxx clxxxi
• False declarations (e.g. “fish products”)clxxxii and false HS codes21
Traffickers moving totoaba bladders by air freight or by sea must declare the products that they
are shipping in customs paperwork. Many totoaba shipments are declared as various fish products,
perhaps to compensate for any fishy smell emanating from the cargo, or perhaps to confuse
customs officials and scanners that are not familiar with totoaba.
In the Mar de Coruña seizure, the container in question had been declared as “frozen fish maw,”
while the purchase documents associated with the shipment claimed the containers were moving
frozen corvina, frozen sea cucumber, and jellyfish. clxxxiii Similarly, customs documentation
recovered by U.S. case agents for Jason Xie’s totoaba shipments revealed that he generally declared
his cargo as “dried fish gift shipment[s].”clxxxiv
Totoaba consignments are likely shipped under false HS codes as well. For example, Kaven
Company and Convenience Trading have been known to use the HS code for electrical machinery
to move marine products like dry sea cucumber.

21 The Harmonized System (HS) is an international system of numbers used to classify traded goods.

43
 Rich Maw-hogany
In January 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that
Kaven Company, Inc., a U.S.-based furniture company, had
been importing illegal fish products, including totoaba bladders,
abalone, and sea cucumber, into the United States before
exporting them to the Hong Kong-based Convenience Trading,
another furniture company.
An investigation by U.S. officials revealed that the owner of
Kaven Company, Kam Wing Chan, was a close relative of
Convenience Trading’s owner, Faye Chan, and that the total
value of goods smuggled by the family members was over $3
million. Kam Wing Chan subsequently pled guilty to the charges
and was sentenced to a fine of $14,500, a restitution payment to
the Mexican government of $55,000, and the forfeiture of any
smuggled fish still in his possession. It seems that Convenience
Trading was never charged in association with the incident.
Shipments of sea cucumbers and other seafood products
between Kaven Company and Convenience Trading continued
at least until April 12, 2017, the date of the last available
shipment at the time of writing.

According to U.S. customs records, Kaven Company was the

Figure X. This bill of lading from September only U.S. importer of goods shipped by Convenience Trading
28, 2016 is for a shipment of “dry sea between June 2012 and April 2017, although Kaven began
cucumber” shipped from Convenience requesting that some of its shipment data not be shared publicly
Trading to Kaven Company. Note that the
shipment’s declared HS code is for electrical
beginning in 2014. While the majority of the shipped
machinery, not marine products. Source: consignments were declared as furniture, a number of shipments
Panjiva and U.S. CBP were openly declared as sea cucumber, despite Kaven Company
and Chan’s previous convictions for smuggling totoaba, sea
cucumber, and other protected marine species.

Sources for the above case study: clxxxv

As totoaba trafficking has become increasingly prevalent, totoaba smugglers seem to have shifted
slightly away from using the United States as a common processing point, and now are likely managing
most processing operations within Mexico, allowing traffickers to pass dried bladders through the
United States and China. As enforcement in Mexico and at the border intensified in response to the
rapid growth in totoaba trafficking, traffickers professionalized their smuggling methods to evade
detection. Still, the extremely limited number of totoaba seizures outside of Mexico indicates that
totoaba enforcement efforts elsewhere are lacking. Without a concerted effort to dismantle the entirety
of the totoaba supply chain within Mexico and as it encroaches into other jurisdictions, the totoaba
mafia will continue to operate with impunity.

44
Destination
Estimated Totoaba Bladder Value in China: $5,000 to $250,000 per bladderclxxxvi
China is the world’s largest consumer of seafood products, accounting for over one-third of the
world’s annual seafood consumption.clxxxvii Over the past few decades, rising incomes and the growth
of the Chinese middle class have led to rapidly increasing demand for luxury seafood products,
including abalone, shark fin, and sea cucumber, as well as swim bladders from totoaba and other fish.
Chinese seafood imports over the past few years have responded to surging demand, increasing from
$3.9 billion in imports in 2009 to $5.5 billion in 2015.clxxxviii
Like ivory and rhino horn, these luxury seafood products generally serve two broad purposes: first, to
demonstrate wealth and status in Chinese society; and second, to bestow perceived health benefits
upon the consumer. Amongst high-end seafood products, totoaba in particular is believed to have a
variety of health benefits, including the ability to “stop bleeding, nourish the liver and kidneys, improve
skin condition and invigorate circulation” clxxxix when prepared in fish maw soup. Smaller, less
expensive totoaba bladders are generally reserved for this purpose. Recently, however, it seems that
consumption of totoaba bladders has decreased, with most consumers seemingly more interested in
the bladders due to their economic value.cxc Recent evidence suggests that only a select few customers
are willing to pay over $5,000 for soup made with totoaba bladders, particularly when fish maw soup
can easily be made with more affordable and readily available swim bladders. cxci Instead, totoaba
bladders seem to be purchased mostly as investments, or as gifts to business partners or government
officials.cxcii
To better understand the current state of totoaba demand in Asia, C4ADS and C4ADS’s partners
conducted a survey of seafood retailers, wholesalers, and other potential sellers to identify evidence of
totoaba sales between February and March 2017. Our primary focus in our limited timeframe was
Hong Kong, which is known to be a major retail and distribution hub for totoaba and other high-end
luxury seafood products. In the course of our research, investigators visited almost 100 dried seafood
stores across the island, following on two major surveys conducted by Greenpeace and EIA in 2015
and 2016. At the same time, C4ADS’s analysts searched online retail sites such as Alibaba, Taobao,
and Tencent Weibo to identify current and past advertisements for declared or suspected totoaba
bladders. In general, we found significantly reduced overt activity in Hong Kong, mirroring a trend
found in other studies of totoaba markets.
The first of these surveys, conducted by Greenpeace in February and April 2015, found totoaba
trafficking activity concentrated in Sheung Wan, a fairly affluent district in Hong Kong. The next
report, by EIA, monitored totoaba retailers over the course of one year, from April 2015 to July 2016,
in Hong Kong and Guangdong province in mainland China. EIA found a more limited market for
totoaba in Hong Kong than Greenpeace had found, but identified an apparently thriving market in
Guangzhou and Shantou in Guangdong. A third report was published by EAL in May 2017, detailing
undercover work that took place in Guangdong in March 2017. EAL also uncovered a decline in the
number of shops selling totoaba in Shantou, compared to EIA’s findings from less than a year earlier.
The findings of C4ADS’s investigation provided an update on how the end of the totoaba supply
chain is reacting to increased public and enforcement attention, revealed additional sectors and entities
of interest from a trafficking and retail perspective, and identified areas of lingering uncertainty within
the final links of the totoaba trafficking chain.

45
Recipient Trafficking Networks
As totoaba bladders leave the Americas, be it by airline passenger, air cargo, or container vessel, they
must have intended recipients on the other side. Information on the movements of totoaba traffickers
and bladders immediately after arrival in Hong Kong, mainland China, or elsewhere, however, remains
extremely limited; there have been only two known cases against totoaba retailers in Hong Kong, and
only one known seizure of totoaba bladders on arrival in Asia. As a result, unlike in Mexico and the
United States, seizure information cannot be used to determine trafficking routes and methods in Asia.
Our current understanding of Asian totoaba bladder importers therefore derives from on-the-ground
investigative work, such as Greenpeace’s 2015 report, and past enforcement activity in Mexico and
the United States. This information reveals that totoaba is likely imported by three types of entities:
• Seafood retailers and wholesalers
Direct importation of totoaba bladders by seafood retailers and wholesalers seems to be a relatively
common method used to move totoaba to demand markets.
One retailer told Greenpeace’s undercover investigators that he could help them purchase small,
young bladders directly from Mexico or the United States – presumably from stockpiles held there
by his associates – and that the “delivery time would be around one week.”cxciii
Yong De Chang Zibu Hang, a wholesaler in Guangdong, reportedly had been sourcing frozen
totoaba bladders directly from Mexico for about six years at the time of EIA’s visit in December
2015.cxciv The owners of the company, the Ji family, “claim to be one of the biggest wholesalers in
Shantou, supplying to large businesses and other traders in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Fujian
and…Shanghai and Beijing.”cxcv
• Individuals acting as trafficking middlemen
Multiple traders have reported that they receive totoaba bladders from a “friend” who either
orchestrates trafficking between the Americas and Asia in coordination with traffickers in Mexico
and the United States, or smuggles the bladders over personally in their checked baggage. In both
situations, retailers seem to place orders with their “friends,” some of whom appear to manage
their own stockpiles, and some of whom may acquire more totoaba bladders only upon receipt of
an order.cxcvi
In one case, a retailer described how he purchased his totoaba bladders from a friend in the United
States, whom he claimed smuggled totoaba into Asia about three times a year, each time carrying
between 10 and 20 bladders.cxcvii
• Front companies
Front companies seem to be used by traffickers for larger shipments of totoaba bladders and other
illicit seafood products. The use of a front company allows traffickers to hide behind the name of
a registered company, and keeps them from having to use a person’s name on the paperwork
associated with air cargo or containerized maritime shipments. Furthermore, a front company
ostensibly engaging in the trade of a licit commodity will have ample opportunity to smuggle small
quantities of illicit products within larger, otherwise legal shipments. They will likely also be more
engrained within international trade and transportation systems, and therefore may be less likely
to raise suspicions when shipping goods seemingly unassociated with their registered business
activities.

46
 Companies engaging in this behavior will exhibit a number of risk indicators. First, they will often
be registered as engaging in business activities unrelated to the trade they are actually engaging in
(e.g. a clothing company shipping seafood). Second, they will send and receive both shipments
and payments for shipments, but they will often not maintain a storefront or online presence. In
some cases, front companies will rent a store and create their own website, but they will not appear
interested in selling to the general public; the store will receive few customers, and the website will
have no clear way to pay for products, or will refrain from posting products for sale entirely.
Finally, the documentation associated with their shipments will likely contain a variety of
anomalies, including mismatching shipment content descriptions and HS codes (e.g. a shipment
declared as statues under the HS code for mattresses), inaccurate or unavailable shipper and
consignee information, and inaccurate or inconsistent weight and estimated value declarations.
Convenience Trading Company (mentioned previously), for instance, is involved in the seafood
trade, but is not legally registered as a seafood company. Convenience Trading also uses
mismatching HS codes for its seafood shipments, and does not seem to maintain a storefront or
website. See Rich Maw-hogany and Convenience Trading & Mar de Coruña for more
information.
More investigation is necessary to develop a deeper, more thorough understanding of the totoaba
trade at this stage, and to confirm or deny the tentative findings that have emerged thus far through
on-the-ground investigative work and open source analysis.

47
 Convenience Trading & Mar de Coruña
One totoaba bladder seizure from 2013 highlighted how totoaba traffickers use licit transportation systems to
move illicit products, and revealed previously uncovered links between individuals, companies, fishing groups,
and NGOs with ties to totoaba trafficking.
On May 22, 2013, Mexican officials at the port of Ensenada opened a container of fish products for a normal
health inspection. After opening the container, they found that its contents did not match the container’s
documentation, and that the estimated price of the shipment was significantly undervalued. Mexican customs
asked the owner of the shipment, Mar de Coruña S de RL de CV, for a document proving the legal providence
of the marine species in the container, but the company was only able to deliver a copy of a May 20, 2013 bill
for 7,925 kilograms of frozen corvina, 6,570 kilograms of frozen sea cucumber, and 3,151 kilograms of
jellyfish.*
Because of the inconsistencies found in the first container, Mexican officials opened a second container owned
by Mar de Coruña later that same day. Although this second shipment had been declared as “frozen fish maw,”
Mexican customs found many boxes of sea cucumber, seahorses, chano, clams, abalone, and other fish species
inside the container, as well as 142.8 kilograms of dried totoaba bladders and 108 kilograms of totoaba fillets.

Image X. The bill of lading for the second container, shipped by Mar de Coruña S de RL de CV and destined for Convenience Trading in
Hong Kong. Source: Ensenada.net

Both shipments displayed a number of common red flags for illicit shipments:
• Undervaluation. The bills of lading for the shipments declared their value at just over $1,000 each, a
vast undervaluation given that the totoaba bladders in the second container alone were likely worth at
least $856,800 in Mexico.
• Missing permits. Both shipments lacked proof that the marine species being shipped were legal, such
as corresponding fishing permits, permits for the potentially protected species in the containers such
as sea cucumber and abalone, etc.
• Incorrect descriptions. Neither shipment accurately declared the marine products being shipped.

48
 Although the true owners of the shipment were not mentioned in the news reports of the seizure, a registration
document for Mar de Coruña shows that the company is owned by the Arias López family, with the father of
the family, Federico Alejandro Arias Suárez, owning the majority share (50%; his wife and three children each
own 12.5%).
Arias Suárez clearly plays a fairly prominent role in the fishing community in Ensenada, serving as the legal
representative for a number of fishing companies and NGOs, and serving on the board of other organizations.
A partial list of the organizations that Arias Suárez seems to be involved with is as follows:
• Mar de Coruña S de RL de CV
• Industriales Pesqueros de Baja California (Industrial Fishermen of Baja California)
• Integradora Comercial AMS, SA de CV
• Consejo Consultivo de Pesca y Acuacultura de Ensenada (CCPAE) (Ensenada Fisheries and Aquaculture
Advisory Council)
• Comité Sistema Producto Pelágicos Menores de Baja California (Minor Pelagic Product System
Committee of Baja California)
In addition, the phone number for Industriales Pesqueros de Baja California matches the phone number of a
seafood, produce, and minerals exporter, MLP Distribuidora Internacional, SA de CV. Archived versions of
MLP Distribuidora Internacional’s website reveal that the website has never contained information about the
company, vacillating instead between a blank page, a page reading “MLP: Under Construction,” and a page
for CONUMMEX, an Ensenada-based gold mining company. An advertisement posted by MLP Distribuidora
Internacional on Taobao Weiku mentions that the company deals in “abalone, lobsters, and sea cucumbers”**
as well as “iron ore, manganese, coal, barite, copper and gold…”
Finally, information from Buholegal on a 2017 court case suggests that Arias Suárez, as representative of his
company Integradora Comercial AMS, sued the Mexican president, PROFEPA, and other Mexican government
agencies. Documents associated with the case reveal that Arias Suárez sought a provisional suspension of laws
passed by the Mexican government that prevented activity in protected nature habitats.
The discovery of the containers also had implications outside of Mexico. Convenience Trading Co. Limited,
the Hong Kong-based company that both containers were meant for, has also been known to source illegal
totoaba bladders, sea cucumbers, and other species from the Americas. The company, owned and operated by
Faye Wing Chan, was implicated in the 2015 court case involving the California-based Kaven Company
(previously mentioned), although it does not seem to have faced any penalties as a result of its involvement.
Faye Wing Chan and other likely family members also own two other companies, Phase Creative
Manufacturing Limited and Enfund Limited, both of which share an address with Convenience Trading. Phase
Creative Manufacturing appears to be a furniture and clothing company, although it sent quite a few shipments
of undeclared products to Kaven Company in 2007 and 2008.*** Enfund Limited has far less of a public
presence, but seems to have imported shipments of sea cucumber in the past.
In order to gain a better understanding of the operations of Faye Wing Chan’s various companies, C4ADS’s
partners visited the companies’ address in early 2017. They found that although the building had an office
directory on the ground floor, it did not list the occupant of Convenience Trading’s office. Furthermore, there
was no signage on the office entrance, and the space seemed to be used more as a storeroom than anything
else, with multiple locks on the front door. The door also displayed signs of possible forced entry; the metal of
the door had been bent back, and multiple screws had been partially removed. On one occasion, a woman
was seen inside the office space amidst boxes and bags, at least some of which appeared to be holding dried
seafood. CCTV equipment was also visible.

49
 Images X – X. Convenience Trading’s Hong Kong location.

To date, there have been no known arrests, investigations, or court proceedings associated with the May 22,
2013 seizure, nor investigations addressing the involvement of either Mar de Coruña or Convenience Trading
in totoaba trafficking.
* The container’s actual contents consisted of 3,171 kilograms of jellyfish, 345 kilograms of sea cucumber, 4,339.69 kilograms of dried
shark fins, and 4,950 kilograms of sea cucumbers.
** Note that abalone and sea cucumbers are often protected and require special permits to export.
*** Eight shipments sent from Phase Creative Manufacturing to Kaven Company did not include descriptions of the goods shipped, but
were given the HS code 8543, for electrical machinery and equipment. A number of seafood shipments from Convenience Trading to
Kaven Company have also been shipped under the HS code 8543. Note that inaccurate HS codes are a common component of illicit
goods shipments.

Sources for the above case study: cxcviii

Changing Demand
The price of totoaba bladders in destination markets varies depending on the size, age, and quality of
the bladder. Larger, older bladders of better quality receive the highest prices, and can be sold for as
much as HKD2 million (about $255,000). cxcix Smaller, younger bladders are sold for much less,
occasionally going for as little as HKD35,000 (about $5,000). cc However, bladder prices vary
substantially throughout the market. Greenpeace noted that “Bladders of similar size and quality can
cost HKD40,000 [$5,000] in one shop and HKD120,000 [$15,500] in another,”cci and attributed the
widely variable price range to “scattered distribution,” meaning the shops engaged in the trade received
their bladders over a wide timeframe, from tens of years ago to only a few months previously.ccii
A significant amount of trade is conducted through retail outlets, which are the most obvious links to
the majority of totoaba consumers. Demand seems concentrated in comparatively affluent
neighborhoods in Hong Kong and southern China, where customers are more likely to be able to
afford totoaba’s high prices.cciii Past studies have found Sheung Wan district in Hong Kong to be
particularly prominent,cciv as well as the Qingping and Yide Road markets in Guangzhou, and Jinping
District in Shantou.ccv
At the time of Greenpeace’s investigation, at least 13 wholesalers and retailers out of 70 shops visited
in Sheung Wan were actively engaged in selling totoaba (in other words, 18.5% of shops visited). EIA’s
first survey took place around the same time in both Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and came up with
similar results: of the 23 retailers EIA visited, at least six of the Guangzhou retailers had totoaba
bladders to sell (26% of shops visited). But during EIA’s next visit a few months later (after the
publication of Greenpeace’s findings), retailers in Guangzhou appeared much more cautious, with
some even displaying a poster on the illegality of totoaba sales from Guangdong Oceans and Fisheries

50
Administration. Still, five of the nine traders involved in this second review admitted at least to
continued possession of totoaba bladders. A third trip to Shantou during the summer of 2016
identified multiple shops and markets with totoaba openly on sale.
In March 2017, EAL returned to Shantou and found that 12% of 18 shops visited were still openly
displaying totoaba bladders for sale. About another nine shops “admitted to carrying ‘gold coin’ fish
maw for sale,” meaning either totoaba or Chinese bahaba bladders.
Around the same time, C4ADS’s contacts visited just under 100 shops, restaurants, and hotels in Hong
Kong, including 63 locations in Sheung Wan alone. None of the locations visited openly advertised
totoaba bladders for sale, and many of the shopkeepers were clearly aware of totoaba’s illegality,
reacting either defensively or evasively upon its mention. A small number indicated that totoaba could
still be made available. Despite their evasive behavior, a select few of the businesses visited are
suspected of continued involvement in totoaba trafficking given past enforcement actions and trade
activity.
The combined picture of totoaba sales created by these four investigations suggests that the totoaba
trade has moved further underground as public and enforcement attention to the issue has increased.
Totoaba sales in Hong Kong in particular seem to have declined, with more and more of the trade
ostensibly shifting to “safer” locations in Shantou and Guangzhou on the mainland (See Law
Enforcement Efforts and Possible Corruption below).

Shifting Prices
The apparent decline in overt totoaba sales is reflected in the steadily decreasing price of totoaba in
demand markets. Multiple traders described a substantial fall in totoaba prices to Greenpeace, EIA,
and C4ADS’s partners. On average, traders reported that totoaba bladders’ value fell 60% to 80%
between about 2012 and 2015.ccvi ccvii
In 2015, the most common explanation for this drop was that prices were high until about 2013 or
2014, when a large influx of supply from Mexico caused prices to crash, as supply exceeded and
overwhelmed demand for the bladders.22 ccviii ccix Some traders attributed this influx to a number of
Chinese citizens who allegedly moved to San Felipe in 2013.ccx It should be noted that this timeline
also coincides with the suspected entrance of Mexican organized crime into the totoaba supply chain
in about 2013.
The price decrease has certainly been substantial enough to affect the number of totoaba bladders
currently on sale, and to create incentive for traders to stockpile bladders, waiting for the return of
more advantageous pricing. For example, two of the nine traders in EIA’s second survey in the winter
of 2015 declared that they were waiting for the price to increase before offloading their totoaba
stock.ccxi One explained that he had spent about $1,500,000 in 2013 and 2014 to grow his totoaba
inventory to 100 to 200 bladders, and he seemed unwilling to risk a loss on his substantial investment.
Another trader complained that sales had fallen from more than 1,000 bladders a month in 2014 to
only about 30 a month in mid-2016, and claimed that few bladders were being imported due to the
related price drop.

22Another, less common explanation for the drop pointed to decreased demand due to the ongoing anti-corruption
campaign in mainland China.

51
 0.5
60000

0.4

40000
weight

price
0.3

0.2 20000

0.1

2015.0 2015.5 2016.0 2016.5 2017.0 2015.0 2015.5 2016.0 2016.5 2017.0
year year

Figures X and X. The first graph depicts the weights of the identified totoaba bladders for sale between 2015
and 2017. The second maps the asking price (USD) for each bladder. Each individual bladder has its own
color, allowing the bladders to be traced from one graph to the next.

150,000

100,000
priceperkg

50,000

2015 2016 2017

year
Figure X. Each totoaba bladder known to have been for sale in China and Guangdong between 2015 and 2017 is
depicted in the above graph. The bladders are mapped based on their price (USD) per kilogram.

In other cases, traders are believed to be stockpiling bladders, but not just to avoid a loss. As the
intertwined plight of totoaba and the vaquita has grown more urgent, some traders seem to be betting
on the future collapse of the species, and a subsequent massive spike in prices.
Although the number of totoaba bladders on sale in Hong Kong and Guangdong seems to have
decreased, steady or increasing illegal totoaba fishing and trafficking activity suggests that some sales
in Hong Kong and Guangdong continue. It seems likely that totoaba is now more frequently sold

52
online or directly to previously identified, high net-worth, trustworthy consumers. This latter theory
is reinforced by a report from one trader, who claimed that “a core group of ‘loyal’ totoaba consumers”
were using the substantial drop in prices to create their own stockpiles.ccxii This may not hold true,
however, in the few remaining shops openly selling bladders in Shantou, where anti-totoaba trafficking
enforcement efforts are less evident. This is consistent with suggestions that the true heart of the
totoaba trade lies in Guangdong Province, rather than in Hong Kong, which was likely used as little
more than a transit point for totoaba traffickers until Hong Kong officials began to clamp down on
the illegal totoaba trade.

Law Enforcement Efforts

Although totoaba has been CITES-listed since 1976, officials in China largely neglected to enforce the
international ban on the totoaba trade until about 2015, despite being the most prominent destination
for totoaba bladders. The Hong Kong government’s first major counter-totoaba trafficking operation
took place between May and June of 2015.ccxiii As part of the operation, AFCD officials inspected
about 150 dried seafood shops, and found two stores to be in possession of a total of 14 totoaba
bladders (three bladders were found in the first shop, 11 in the second).ccxiv In December 2015, the
owner of Yue Hing Marine Products Trading Co. was found guilty of possession of three totoaba
bladders, and was fined HKD30,000 ($3,853).ccxv The case marked the first prosecution for totoaba
related crimes in Hong Kong, but the fine was only a small fraction (23%) of the bladders’
HKD130,000 ($16,692) sales price.ccxvi
After the publication of Greenpeace’s report in June 2015, AFCD carried out undercover
investigations of the retailers and wholesalers mentioned in the report. They found no evidence of
totoaba sales at any of the shops identified by Greenpeace. AFCD then conducted additional
inspections of another 450 dried seafood shops between August and November 2015 that similarly
“revealed no irregularities.”
The AFCD’s findings are at odds with the results of the investigations undertaken by Greenpeace,
EIA, and C4ADS’s partners, all of whom surveyed fewer shops than AFCD but found greater
evidence of illegal totoaba possession and sales. One possible explanation for this may be found in
Shantou, where some totoaba traders told EAL that “government inspectors would notify them
before showing up for an inspection,” giving them enough time to hide any illegal seafood
products.ccxvii Although Shantou is, of course, in Guangdong province and not in Hong Kong, it is
certainly possible that any remaining totoaba traders in Hong Kong receive similar warnings prior to
inspections.
Regardless, since 2015, Hong Kong and Guangdong officials have made clear efforts to raise
awareness of totoaba trafficking and highlight the penalties associated with possession of totoaba
bladders. The Guangdong Oceans and Fisheries Administration, for example, handed out a poster to
seafood traders in 2015 warning that involvement in totoaba trafficking would lead to seizures of the
offending products, a fine, and possible prosecution. ccxviii One trader told EIA in late 2015 that
inspections had taken place in Guangzhou, and some retailers had been found with totoaba bladders
and fined as a result.ccxix In early 2017, Guangdong officials conducted 5,331 inspections of markets,
retailers, hotels, and restaurants; 23 disseminated posters and pamphlets on China’s Wildlife
Conservation Law and CITES; and distributed media reports to raise awareness.ccxx In Hong Kong,
the AFCD has provided training to Hong Kong customs, as well as developed a totoaba identification

23 The inspection findings were not publicly reported.

53
guide for law enforcement officials.ccxxi Their awareness raising efforts appear to be working; a large
number of seafood traders told C4ADS’s partners that they knew totoaba bladders were illegal, and
therefore refused to carry them.
This apparent progress is overshadowed, however, by the continued existence of totoaba demand,
however slight, and the persistent sale of totoaba bladders in Shantou and elsewhere. C4ADS’s
partners found that some individuals involved with the seafood industry in Hong Kong were aware
of a few wealthy individuals who are known to possess and/or consume totoaba, but who have
managed to avoid detection by Hong Kong authorities. In other cases, the main reason shopkeepers
did not carry totoaba was not due to its illegality or perceived risk, but because they claimed that
totoaba bladders were prohibitively expensive, and were purchased too infrequently by consumers to
warrant the investment. In addition, although Hong Kong customs reported in 2015 that they had
seized 17 suspected totoaba bladders in three cases in two years, no investigations or prosecutions
resulted from the seizures.ccxxii Most importantly, these recent enforcement developments have had a
negligible impact on illegal totoaba fishing in the Gulf of California, where totoaba and the vaquita
still suffer at the hands of totoaba fishermen.

Asian Trafficking Routes and Modus Operandi

What limited information is available on totoaba trafficking within Asia suggests that totoaba bladders
are generally moved to or through “safe” jurisdictions prior to delivery to consumers. For example, in
2015, Hong Kong totoaba traders described Hong Kong customs as “free entry,” and told Greenpeace
that “Hong Kong customs were very loose and had very little knowledge about the bladders…Chinese
customs were much stricter and would need to be ‘dealt’ with extra care.”ccxxiii One explained that “The
officials in Hong Kong don’t care, only drugs are prohibited. [Totoaba] is not a prohibited item.”ccxxiv
A number of these traders described how they would sell totoaba bladders to mainlanders, and then
arrange for the delivery of the bladders to mainland China in exchange for a fee of HKD2,000 to
3,000 (about $250 to $385) per bladder.
EIA’s findings were similar. EIA noted that the traders they approached had also mentioned
smuggling bladders from Hong Kong into mainland China, in addition to explaining that buyers from
the mainland purchased bladders in Hong Kong “due to the perceived higher quality of supplies from
the city and the higher risk of fakes in Guangzhou.”ccxxv
Multiple traders have confirmed Hong Kong’s prominence as a transit hub, some even going so far
as to explain the specific methods they used to move bladders into mainland China.
• Trafficking mules
Trafficking to the mainland is arranged by retailers, but often executed by external hires that are
brought on exclusively to move totoaba bladders.ccxxvi
For example, one retailer on Des Voeux Road West explained that his shop would hire people to
carry bladders in their suitcases from Hong Kong to Beijing.ccxxvii
• Trafficking price of HKD2,000 ($256) to HKD3,000 ($385)
Retailers in Hong Kong seem to charge an additional HKD2,000 ($256) to HKD3,000 ($385) per
bladder for the trouble of smuggling the contraband through Hong Kong and Chinese
customs.ccxxviii
• Corruption

54
 One trader mentioned that bribes of customs officials would be necessary to guarantee safe
passage into Guangzhou.ccxxix This is perhaps unsurprising, given that officials in Guangzhou are
likely aware of totoaba trafficking, unlike officials in the more distant cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
Rumors of corruption in Guangdong are also consistent with reports from other traders that
officials in the province warn seafood shops of impending inspections.
• Stockpiles held elsewhere
Some retailers and wholesalers source from large stockpiles of totoaba bladders that they have
amassed over time. A few sellers mentioned to investigators that their inventories were held
outside of Hong Kong, in the United States or China, suggesting that some traders have associates
that actually manage and maintain their stockpiles on their behalf.
One prominent fish maw company in Guangdong, Yong de Chang Zibu Hang, claimed to have a
stockpile of 600 to 700 totoaba bladders in June 2016, well after totoaba prices and demand began
to fall.ccxxx This lends credence to the theory that major traders continue to accumulate totoaba
bladders even in the face of declining sales.
• Use of authorization forms
Some sellers require their customers to sign authorization forms before the retailers arrange for
their purchased bladders to be smuggled out of Hong Kong.
For instance, one shopkeeper told Greenpeace that totoaba buyers would be “guaranteed to be
safe from ‘trouble’” after they signed the form.ccxxxi
• Hidden in suitcases wrapped in plastic
Some bladders are flown out of Hong Kong, instead of being driven across the border into
Shenzhen on the mainland. In those cases, the bladders seem to be packed in traffickers’ suitcases
for transport, where they are unlikely to be identified and recovered by customs or enforcement
officials.
One trader explained that the traffickers have their suitcases wrapped in plastic at Hong Kong
Airport to further reduce the likelihood that their bags will be searched.ccxxxii He also mentioned
that his bladders were usually flown on direct flights from Hong Kong to Beijing.
• Declared as regular fish maw
Similar to the way totoaba bladders are moved from the Americas to Asia, intra-China smugglers
are known to declare the swim bladders in their luggage or shipment as regular fish bladders, or
simply “fish maw.”
The success of this method is based almost entirely on the (often correct) assumption that officials
are either unaware that fish maw can be illegal, or that they are not familiar enough with totoaba
to be able to identify totoaba bladders. One trader warned that declaring totoaba simply as “fish
maw” would be acceptable in Beijing, but not at Lo Wu border crossing between Hong Kong and
Shenzhen, where customs officials are aware of totoaba trafficking.ccxxxiii Other traders explained
that fish maw consignments are not routinely scanned by customs, although they failed to specify
which air or sea ports they were referring to.ccxxxiv
• Online information exchange
Sellers and traffickers have also been known to exchange information on social media and on
other online platforms about different trafficking methods and routes. For example, in early 2016,

55
 one commenter warned that officials at a specific border crossing point between Hong Kong and
mainland China were conducting enhanced inspections, and recommended that traffickers use a
different route.ccxxxv
Seafood importers have also been known to request fish maw, shark fin, and sea cucumber – all
of which can be illegal depending on the species imported – through posts on trade websites. For
instance, one seafood importer, Heep Tung Hong Ltd., which allegedly imported shark fins into
Hong Kong by mislabeling shipments as “products of animal origin” or “dried fish,” published a
buy offer for seafood products on a trade website in 2016.ccxxxvi

Image X. A buy offer posted by Heep Tung Hong on a popular trade website in July 2016.

The recent improvements in the Hong Kong government’s treatment of totoaba trafficking, however,
and the subsequent decline in the number of Hong Kong businesses engaging in the trade, suggest
that Hong Kong’s importance as a transit region may be decreasing, as traffickers opt for cities,
airports, and sea ports where awareness is significantly lower. Flight routes to China from the Americas
indicate that other potential import cities include Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, all of which offer
direct flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco.24
Common flight routes can also reveal likely transit airports used by totoaba smugglers. For example,
San Diego and Mexico City only offer one direct flight to Asia, and both to the same airport – Narita
Airport in Tokyo. Given that Narita is a large airport positioned directly between totoaba’s supply and
demand regions, and providing many flights connecting the two, it seems likely that totoaba traffickers
sometimes pass through Tokyo on their way to China or Hong Kong. Other potential transit cities
include Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, and Osaka, all of which offer nonstop flights to either Los Angeles
or San Francisco.
Some evidence from government officials and undercover investigations support this theory,
suggesting that flight routes are a good indicator for previously overlooked or little known transit
points for totoaba bladders. PROFEPA officials, for instance, have previously stated that totoaba
bladders are occasionally moved through Japan on their way to Shanghai or Hong Kong.ccxxxvii In 2014,
a totoaba trafficker turned himself in to Mexican authorities and reported that Sammy Gallardo had
dealt directly with buyers in Japan and South Korea prior to his death.25 One trader told Greenpeace
that totoaba trafficking is “safe” in Singapore, where customs officials may not even be aware of the
totoaba trafficking issue. In addition, although flights from southern California to Bangkok’s
Suvarnabhumi Airport are not direct, a trader in Shantou recently told EAL that bladders are moved
through Thailand as well, where customs officials are probably unaware of the species’ protected status.

24 Note that higher levels of totoaba trafficking awareness in Guangzhou may mean that traffickers rely less on Guangzhou
Baiyun Airport to import bladders, although totoaba import information remains too limited to definitively determine
whether this is the case.
25 Officials later released him after they found his testimony to be questionable.

56
Online Sellers
Online sales free retailers from geographic constraints, offering them the opportunity to market to a
much broader array of potential customers. In the case of illicit products, online sales also provide
retailers with additional layers of protection. For example, sellers can post advertisements on online
platforms using false or altered information to obscure their true identity. Reliance on online
transactions also reduces or removes the need for retailers to maintain storefront shops, which are
both resource-intensive and can put sellers of illegal products at risk. As a result, online ads can be an
important source of revenue for totoaba retailers, wholesalers, and other sellers. Over the past few
years, as customs and enforcement attention to totoaba trafficking has increased, online sales may
offer retailers a way to offload their totoaba stock without risking discovery during a surprise
inspection.
Since the totoaba trafficking supply chain is very narrow, with less than 50 sellers identified by past
undercover investigations, totoaba online advertisements limited in number. Furthermore, because
totoaba is illegal and increasingly well-known, most online sellers do not declare their products as
totoaba – instead, they use a variety of terms familiar to experienced or knowledgeable buyers, and
include photos that are recognizable as either totoaba or bahaba bladders (i.e. bladders with long
tubules).26

Image X. A totoaba bladder for sale in Hong Images X – X. Various fish maws of other species. Note that none
Kong with the characteristic long tubules. possess the long tubules seen on totoaba bladders. Sources: Alibaba,
Source: Greenpeace 21Food, ERLIN Seafood

26 In some cases, consumers may not know the actual name of totoaba, relying instead on its many nicknames.

57
 By Any Other Name
The Names and Phrases Used to Refer to Totoaba Bladders
English Chinese Transliteration (Pinyin)
(Dried) Fish/Swim Bladder 鱼肚 yú dǔ
(Dried) Fish/Swim Bladder 鱼胶 yú jiāo
(Dried) Fish/Swim Bladder 鱼鳔 yú biào
(Dried) Fish/Swim Bladder 花胶* huā jiāo
Chinese Drum 鳘鱼* mín yú
Money Fish (money maw) 金钱鱼 (鱼肚/鱼胶/鱼鳔/花 jīnqián yú
胶)*
Money Drum 金钱鳘* jīnqián mín
American Money Drum 美国金钱鳘* Měiguó jīnqián mín
Large-Whisker Money Drum 大须金钱鳘* dàxū jīnqián mín
Croaker (Drum) 石首鱼 shíshǒu yú
Totoaba 托头石首鱼 tuōtóu shíshǒu yú
Totoaba Macdonaldi 麦氏托头石首鱼** màishì(zhī) tuōtóu shíshǒu yú
California Yellow Croaker 加州犬型黄花鱼 Jiāzhōu quǎnxíng huánghuā yú
Gulf of California Croaker 加利福尼亚湾石首鱼 Jiālìfúníyàwān shíshǒu yú
Money (Golden Coin) Drum 金钱鳘* jīnqián mǐn
San Francisco Money Drum 金山金钱鳘* jīnshān jīnqián mǐn
Aquatic Cocaine
Spanish
Totoaba Buche

* Colloquial terms for totoaba and totoaba bladders

** Scientific name for totoaba

Using these known obfuscation strategies to identify likely totoaba ads, EIA documented 21
advertisements for totoaba bladders (an additional five were allegedly bahaba maws, but may actually
have been totoaba) in 2015 and 2016. A little less than a year later, between February and May 2017,
C4ADS identified eleven ads for totoaba bladders,27 suggesting that online sales have persisted or
increased despite the apparent drop in in-person totoaba sales.
Likely totoaba ads have been found on the following platforms:
• Artron.net
Artron.net is a Chinese art website that provides an auctioning platform for users to sell art and
antiques online. EIA found auction records for 25 “money maws” on the site between mid-2015
and mid-2016. They determined that 18 of the auctioned bladders were of totoaba, “either via
their listed name (e.g. ‘big whiskered money maw’ or ‘American money maw’)” or by analyzing
the photographs of the bladders.

27
Eight of these eleven ads are showcased below.

58
 C4ADS monitored Artron.net during the spring of 2017 for new totoaba postings, but found only
one likely totoaba auction, scheduled to begin on June 8th. The bladder in question weighs 503
grams, making it one of the biggest bladders to be put up for sale online, according to both EIA’s
and our own findings (other large bladders sold online have weighed “under 500” gramsccxxxviii and
505 gramsccxxxix).
• Alibaba
Alibaba is the world’s largest e-commerce company, and owns three main commerce websites –
Taobao, Tmall, and Alibaba.ccxl In early August 2016, EIA found three ads on Alibaba that were
allegedly of bahaba maws, but were being sold for totoaba bladder prices, suggesting that the
traders behind these ads may have been trying to pass off totoaba bladders as having come from
the much rarer bahaba bladders.ccxli
C4ADS identified two additional ads on Alibaba in the spring of 2017.
• Taobao
Taobao is owned by Alibaba, and is China’s biggest online shopping site, akin to Amazon in the
United States.ccxlii EIA identified at least three advertisements on Taobao in early August 2016 that
appeared to be of totoaba bladders. Two additional ads on the site claimed to be selling bahaba
maws, but their low prices suggested that may have been totoaba bladders as well.
C4ADS found three postings for likely totoaba bladders during our investigation. None of the ads
included the date of posting, so we could not determine whether the ads were new, or the same
ads that EIA had identified ten months previously.

Images X – Y. Photos of likely totoaba bladders posted on Shantou Fish Maw Canyuan Nutritious Products’ Taobao
page.

• YOYCart
YOYCart is another of Alibaba’s commerce websites, and is primarily frequented by Chinese men
with college degrees.ccxliii
C4ADS discovered five likely totoaba ads on YOYCart, as well as one additional ad that seemed
to be of totoaba, but did not fit the pattern of a standard totoaba sale. Two of the ads we identified
were duplicates of posts we had already found on Taobao, but the YOYCart versions of the ads
were for significantly more than their Taoboa counterparts (the bladder from Shantou Fish Maw
Canyuan Nutritious Products was being sold for almost $200 more on YOYCart; the bladder from

59
 Paula Hall was being sold for over $3,000 more).28 The difference in prices could stem from the
difference in user demographics between the two sites. YOYCart seems to be primarily used by
Chinese men with higher levels of education, while Taobao’s standard user population is much
more likely to have no college experience.29

Figures X and X. Both graphics split website users by level of education. The first
graphic depicts YOYCart’s users; the second maps Taobao’s. Source: Alexa.com

The final ad is very odd; while the photos used in the post do not appear to be stock photos (often
indicative of fake advertisements), the 262-gram bladder is being sold for only $16.71, or $63.78
per kilogram. The other likely totoaba bladders on YOYCart are sold for an average of $18,207
per kilogram, 285.5 times more than the price of the bladder in this post. It is highly unlikely that
the bladders are simply from a cheaper fish – the only other type of fish with comparatively long
tubules on its swim bladder is the Chinese bahaba, which commands an even higher price than
totoaba.

28 For example, a post on YOYCart from Haifu Fish Maw at first appears to be a duplicate of an ad posted on Taobao
(the photos used are the same), but on closer inspection, the YOYCart ad is for a 50-gram, rather than a 350-gram, bladder.
The smaller maw on YOYCart is being sold for RMB 15,390 ($2,233), which is far more per kilogram than the larger
bladder on Taobao ($4,145 per kilogram versus $44,668).
29 The YOYCart ads also offered discounts for purchases of larger numbers of bladders for each of the ads we identified.
For example, consumers wishing to buy anywhere from 11 to 15 bladders from Shantou Fish Maw Canyuan Nutritious
Products would receive a discount of almost two U.S. dollars per bladder. Because the discounts were consistent across
[all five] ads, this seems like a feature provided by YOYCart, and not necessarily reflective of the sellers’ actual sales policies.

60
 Advertisement Seller Website Details
Beijing Artron.net 503-gram bladder
Dongcheng scheduled for
Auction Co., auction (to begin on
Ltd. (北京东正 June 8). The post
拍卖有限公司) states that the
bladder was
appraised at RMB
150,000 to RMB
160,000 ($21,768
to $23,219).

Ai Youyou (北 Alibaba 280-gram bladder

海市海城区爱 for RMB 29,680
鱿鱿干海味商 ($4,307), and 295-
行) gram bladder for
RMB 31,270
($4,538).

Haizhong Alibaba 500-gram bladder

Haiwei (广州 with an asking price
市越秀区海中 of RMB 50,000
汇海味行) ($7,254). The post
has since been
“ shelved ”
according to the
company’s Alibaba
page.

Shantou Fish Taobao 50-gram bladder for

Maw Canyuan RMB 2,500 ($363).
Nutritious The company’s post
Products (汕头 mentions that they
鱼胶参元滋补 have 117 of these
品) bladders in stock;
the photos of
dozens of bladders
included in the ad
suggest that this
may be true. In
addition, under
“Item Details,” the
seller states that the
bladders are from
the United States,
and are packed as
“edible agricultural
products.”

61
 Advertisement Seller Website Details
Haifu Fish Taobao One ad, from Haifu
Maw (海富鱼 Fish Maw ( 海 富 鱼
胶) 胶 ) in Shantou,
appears to be selling
three bladders, but
mentions that “In
addition to these
three there are other
sizes…first come
first served! If
interested, contact
the seller to
choose...” The post
also claims that the
sellers have “99,999
bladders” in stock.

Paula Hall (葆 Taobao and 343-gram bladder
兴堂) YOYCart that a Guangdong-
based company,
Paula Hall (葆兴堂),
appears to be selling
as a gift for
RMB48,888
($7,105).

n/a YOYCart 106.5-gram bladder
priced at $1,631
and for sale by
“4070sz.” The
account owner
appears to have at
least four other
bladders, according
to photos included
in the ad.

n/a YOYCart 262-gram bladder
being sold for only
$16.71. The seller is
identified as only
“taylor_yo.”

62
During the course of our investigation into online totoaba advertisements, we came across a few ads
that were likely fake. Totoaba’s high price, combined with the inherent secrecy of the internet, creates
incentive for fake posts attempting to scam unsuspecting consumers out of a fairly significant amount
of money. Most of the fake ads we uncovered shared a few important characteristics: the photos in
the ad were taken from news articles, press releases, or even other ads for totoaba; the company
“selling” the product was based outside of totoaba’s usual supply and demand regions; the posts were
written in English, rather than the more usual Mandarin; and the ads actually mentioned the word
“totoaba,” instead of relying on a more obscure option like “money maw.”

False Totoaba Advertisements

C4ADS identified one post, from the e-commerce website Weiku, that displayed all of the known red flags for fake
advertisements, and revealed an unusual method used by scammers to appear legitimate.

Image X. A likely fake totoaba ad posted on Weiku in December 2016.

In this case, the post does not include a price (a common method used for multiple types of illegal activity). The photo
used is at first undiscoverable in the open source, but a closer inspection of a photo from a news article reveals a clever
method used by online scammers:

Image X. A media photo of three dried totoaba bladders. The smaller photo was screenshot by C4ADS to replicate the image used in
the Weiku advertisement. Source: Marty Graham / Reuters
The image was simply a screenshot of a photo of dried totoaba taken for Reuters. Clever workarounds like this help
scammers and traffickers obfuscate their true identity and pass, for a time at least, as legitimate business entities.

In general, each survey conducted thus far on totoaba demand markets has revealed a steadily declining
number of totoaba bladders openly on sale in stores, in addition to a corresponding drop in totoaba
bladder prices. Traders in Hong Kong and Guangdong have become increasingly wary of undercover
investigations and enforcement actions, making them increasingly unlikely to openly sell or discuss
totoaba bladders. This reluctance to engage with strangers hampers the ability of enforcement officials,
investigative journalists, and NGOs to track changes in the totoaba trade and identify trafficking

63
patterns associated with totoaba sales and movements within Asia. This becomes particularly
problematic when coupled with the extremely low number of totoaba seizures in the region that would
otherwise shed light on the end of the totoaba supply chain. In addition, as law enforcement awareness
and presumably seafood shop inspections continue to increase, totoaba traders may increasingly rely
on preexisting relationships with trusted, high net-worth totoaba consumers, as well as online e-
commerce websites, to do business. More work must be done on the Asian aspect of totoaba
trafficking moving forward – preferably in the form of longer term, more intensive undercover
investigations directed by Hong Kong and Chinese law enforcement – to determine how the totoaba
trade is continuing to flourish and who exactly is involved. Finally, Beijing and Shanghai seafood
markets have so far escaped scrutiny, even though previously seized totoaba has been destined for
Beijing; this oversight should be remedied to determine the extent of these cities’ involvement in the
totoaba trade. The suffering totoaba and vaquita populations cannot withstand the continued
existence of totoaba demand in China or Hong Kong.

64
Conclusion & Recommendations
Totoaba and their beleaguered neighbors, the vaquita, are suffering from an epidemic they cannot
survive. Although totoaba fishing, even illegal totoaba fishing, is nothing new in the Gulf of California,
the high profits and low risks that totoaba trafficking offers have become increasingly tempting to
poor fishermen, and have become irresistible to organized criminal actors in the area who see totoaba
as an easier path to profit.
As word spread in the early 2010s of totoaba bladders’ high value, more and more criminal actors
entered the region. Totoaba trafficking became an organized criminal activity in its own right,
benefiting from the same trafficking routes, modus operandi, and network connections underpinning
crimes like narcotics trafficking in the region. As Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials have
become aware of totoaba trafficking, totoaba networks have shifted their operations to accommodate
changing enforcement dynamics, with apparent success – no totoaba bladder seizures have been made
at the U.S. border since 2013, even though totoaba bladders still leave the United States for Asian
markets. Effective enforcement in Hong Kong and China has been limited, with only a few seizures
of totoaba ever recorded, even as known totoaba importers continue to operate with impunity within
their borders.
In addition, C4ADS’s investigation has revealed that enhanced enforcement activity along the U.S.-
Mexico border has resulted in the increasing importance of Mexico as a processing point, as traffickers
opt for moving harder-to-detect dry bladders over national borders. Our investigation also highlighted
the decreasing relevance of Asian seafood shops and storefronts, as the number of overt totoaba sales
continues to drop, and totoaba retailers and consumers become increasingly difficult to identify.
With vaquita numbers hovering below 30, and with destabilizing organized criminal networks
continuing to enrich themselves off the circumstances causing their decline, decisive action must be
taken by government authorities, the public sector, and the private sector to prevent the loss of the
vaquita species. Continued complacency will mean the extinction of the vaquita and the sustained
enrichment of organized criminal actors around the Gulf of California, who know they will not be
made to face the consequences of their crimes.
Furthermore, what if the vaquita is lost? There is a real danger that the loss of the vaquita would mean
the reduction or removal of anti-gillnet fishing efforts in the Gulf, leaving totoaba and other species
behind to defend themselves against an invisible aggressor. If this occurs, organized criminal gangs
will be even more empowered than they already are. What then if the totoaba is eliminated as well,
and organized totoaba networks, now without a clear source of revenue, are left to find another way
to support their new lifestyles? Organized criminals generally do not return to a life of legality once
their primary revenue stream has run dry.
Time is running out. Without a substantially strengthened effort to not only remove gillnets from the
Gulf of California, but also to identify and prosecute the individuals driving totoaba trafficking from
their expensive homes around the Gulf and in China and the United States, the vaquita will be lost.
None of the Mexican government’s restrictions designed to protect totoaba and save the vaquita will
have any effect unless they are supported by quick and decisive enforcement action. Similarly, no
intermediaries or traders will opt out of the lucrative totoaba trade until U.S. and Chinese officials
ascribe the correct weight to the magnitude of their crimes, and prosecute them accordingly. Simple
seizures and fines have never sufficed, and will certainly make no difference now.
Therefore, C4ADS recommends the following steps be taken to reduce the supply of, trafficking of,
and demand for totoaba bladders.

65
Source Zone
Resource constraints and corruption are significant obstacles to enforcement efforts in and around
the Gulf of California. Although we recognize these impediments, we believe that the correct
implementation of the following recommendations, or some assortment of them, would significantly
reduce illegal fishing on the Gulf, and would impede totoaba trafficking networks’ ability to operate.
1. Permanently ban gillnet fishing in the Gulf, as well as gillnet possession and
transportation on land.ccxliv
CIRVA has repeatedly recommended that all types of gillnets in the Gulf be permanently prohibited,
as most gillnets pose a threat to totoaba, vaquita, or other marine life in the Gulf. Those nets that pose
less of a threat still provide totoaba fishermen with an excuse to possess gillnets – they can simply
argue that their gillnets are for shrimp, not totoaba. Despite CIRVA’s urgent advice, a permanent and
total gillnet ban remains elusive, leaving fishermen instead to try to make sense of the overlapping,
slightly different, and unclear gillnet bans that remain in place. The most prominent ban, announced
by President Peña Nieto in 2015, was set to expire in May 2017, which could have created the
impression that gillnet use is now permissible – but the area still falls under a secondary, longer-lasting
gillnet ban put in place by CONANP. To reduce confusion, and help ensure the continued existence
of the vaquita, a well-publicized, permanent gillnet ban is needed across the entire Upper Gulf.
Gillnet possession should be banned on land as well. As long as on-shore possession of gillnets
remains legal, totoaba fishermen are safe to store their nets on land, and can simply use them at night
when the chances of being caught are particularly low.
In the words of the IWC’s Scientific Committee, “The choice is simple and stark: either gillnetting in
the Upper Gulf ends or the vaquita will be gone…”ccxlv
2. Immediately dedicate more resources to removing all gillnets from the Upper Gulf of
California, with particular attention paid to the known range of the vaquita.
Although recent gillnet removal efforts in the Upper Gulf have been fairly substantial, it is clear that
an even more extensive effort is needed.
CIRVA laid out a plan for a gear removal program in September 2016 that was enacted between
October 10th and November 15th of that year. The plan relied on 19 pangas operated by 45 local
artisanal fishermen to detect the nets. This program should be expanded to include the current gillnet
removal program managed by SEMAR, and executed by Sea Shepherd and other organizations.
Sufficient funding should be raised from the Mexican, American, and Chinese governments, in
addition to other sources, to deploy a much larger number of monitoring vessels to the Gulf in
coordination with existing successful gillnet removal programs. The extended program should not be
limited by time of year (CIRVA’s program only lasted for a month; Sea Shepherd and other vessels
only patrol during the totoaba and corvina seasons) to ensure the discovery of forgotten gillnets, as
well as the retrieval of gillnets set for other species outside of totoaba’s typical season. The program
must continue to involve both government and NGOs to reduce the risk that corruption will subvert
the program’s success. Search efforts must be conducted over the entirety of the vaquita refuge and
the vaquita’s known range at a minimum to ensure that fishing gear posing the greatest threat to
vaquita is removed promptly.
3. Dedicate additional resources to the development and implementation of a gillnet
exchange program.ccxlvi

66
During the initial implementation of the gillnet ban, a program should be developed to offer fishermen
a short window of opportunity to turn in their gillnets for compensation, in the form of either money
or different fishing gear (in the latter case, adequate training on how to use the new gear would be
required). Previous gillnet exchange programs have been enacted in the Gulf, reportedly with varying
results – lessons learned from these programs should be incorporated into any new gillnet exchange.
For instance, a stratified compensation scheme depending on the age or state of each gillnet may create
positive incentive for fishermen to pull up gillnets found in the Gulf. Note that a program designed
ineffectively – for example, an exchange program lasting indefinitely – will only incentivize fishermen
to make or buy additional gillnets in return for compensation. Similarly, steps should be taken to
ensure that payments for exchanged gillnets are not going only to a few permisionarios without being
properly disseminated to individual fishermen.
4. Ensure proper disposal of retrieved gillnets.
There is some concern that confiscated gillnets will find their way back to totoaba and other fishermen
through corruption, negligence, or some other loophole. For example, the nets that were retrieved as
a result of CIRVA’s 2016 gear removal program were moved to a temporary storage center before
being recycled. CIRVA then mentioned the location of the storage center in their eighth report,
providing traffickers and illegal fishermen with an opportunity to exploit the gear removal system and
take back their nets, or at the very least put pressure on the individuals tasked with guarding them.
While recycling nets is a good disposal method for seized gillnets, gear disposal programs should keep
the locations of the confiscated nets as confidential as possible, work to minimize the amount of time
that the nets spend in storage, and enact measures to ensure the trustworthiness of the individuals
tasked with moving, monitoring, and ultimately disposing of the nets (See Recommendation 11
below).
5. Revise, and eventually rescind, the current gillnet compensation program.
Although the current gillnet compensation program is flawed, and can be easily exploited by
permisionarios for personal gain at the expense of poorer fishermen, a gillnet compensation program
will be necessary to provide financial support for fishermen until feasible alternative fishing gear or
livelihoods can be developed and implemented. For the time being, the current program should be
revised and continued past the end of President Peña Nieto’s two-year ban. The absence of a similar
compensation program will almost certainly add to the number of fishermen willing to fish for totoaba
to provide for their families, compounding the current problem. Once alternative gear has been
developed and adopted by the fishing community, the program can be rescinded.
6. Dedicate additional resources to the creation and implementation of alternative
fishing development and training programs. To the greatest extent possible, attempt
to include local fishermen, particularly those most affected by the gillnet ban, in the
creation and execution of these programs.
An essential aspect of the success of any gillnet ban is the existence or creation of alternative and
comparable fishing gear or employment opportunities. Multiple Mexican government agencies,
CIRVA, and some NGOs have been involved in trying to develop alternative fishing gear that can
replace Gulf fishermen’s reliance on gillnets. So far, these efforts have had limited success, often
stymied by a lack of community buy-in, slow response from government officials, or the inefficiency
of the gear itself. Since the development or identification of replacement fishing gear is essential to
the survival of the vaquita, more resources should be dedicated to continuing and improving these
programs until a sustainable solution (or solutions) is identified. Similarly, relevant Mexican

67
government officials should heavily prioritize responding quickly to program needs, so as not to
unnecessarily delay the progress of such a time-sensitive effort. The most successful program would
be a well-coordinated effort between teams working on developing multiple solutions at once, all with
significant input and assistance from local fishermen, from the beginning of the program to its
conclusion. See CIRVA-7 and CIRVA-8 for discussions on what has worked, what has not worked,
and what can be done to improve alternative fishing gear programs moving forward.ccxlvii
At the same time, local fishermen who have been pushed out of work due to the gillnet ban should
be hired as frequently as possible to assist in conservation efforts. CIRVA’s reliance on local fishermen
during their gear removal program is a good example of one way that community members can be
brought in to the vaquita-survival, anti-totoaba trafficking effort.
7. Ensure that the vaquita refuge extends far enough southward to cover the known range
of the vaquita.ccxlviii
CIRVA has noted repeatedly that vaquita have been spotted and heard outside of their protected range,
particularly to the south of the refuge. Naturally, vaquita spending time outside of their designated
protected area are at an unusually high risk of being ensnared in gillnets or other fishing gear,
particularly if they happen to stray westward, towards the shallow waters where totoaba fishing is
particularly prominent. Expanding the vaquita’s refuge slightly to cover the entirety of their territory
will not only be safer for the vaquita, it will also simplify Mexican enforcement agencies’ efforts to
ensure the security of the remaining vaquita population.
8. Restrict fishing permits in the Upper Gulf to residents only.ccxlix
Since a significant amount of illegal totoaba fishing is driven by individuals who are not local to the
Upper Gulf area, and because some of the illegal fishing is carried out by people who moved to the
Gulf in response to the totoaba trade’s high profits, fishing in the Upper Gulf should be restricted to
local fishermen, with exceptions made only for sport fishing. This restriction should benefit local
fishermen many times over as competition for fish decreases, fish populations increase, and local
fishermen obtain a larger share of the fishing market in the region. The restriction could also reduce
poverty in the Upper Gulf communities as fishing profits increase, thereby reducing the incentive for
fishermen to seek additional illicit income, and strengthening their ability to push back against
intrusions by opportunistic outsiders.
9. Require pangas to carry VMS or similar transmitters, prohibit at-sea panga operation
at night, and require pangas to launch from designated launch zones.
Even with the successful implementation of all the above recommendations, illegal fishing activity will
likely persist to some extent as some criminal networks and fishermen continue to find totoaba
revenues preferable to the profits available to them by other means. New regulations for pangas can
help to mitigate this risk, and provide Mexican law enforcement with easier ways to identify potential
totoaba fishing and other illegal activity.
Requiring pangas to carry VMS or similar transmitters (and requiring them to keep them on) will make
it much more difficult to operate without detection in the Gulf. If panga operators turn off their
transmitters, enforcement officials and others will be able to see that they ceased transmitting, which
could signal enforcement to check in on that boat. Any pangas found without operating transmitters
would be subject to a fine, adding to the costs associated with engaging in illegal activity. However,
without support, many fishermen may not be able to acquire, afford, or set up their own transmitters.

68
As a result, a plan to subsidize the cost of the transmitters should be developed (ideally involving
public and private sector funds) alongside a program to train fishermen on how to use them.
Similarly, preventing panga operation at night will make it easier to monitor the Upper Gulf for
instances of illegal activity. For example, a transmitting vessel that takes off from shore at 1 a.m. could
send an automatic alert to enforcement. Any pangas found on the water at night would warrant further
inspection, and panga operators could no longer claim that they were sport fishing or simply transiting
through the Gulf to excuse their presence on the water.ccl CONAPESCA announced in 2016 that they
would enact a ban on night fishing by the winter to try to stymie illegal fishing, but the ban alone has
done little to discourage fishermen from operating at night. Ensuring adequate enforcement of the
ban should therefore be seen as a priority.
Requiring pangas to launch from designated zones will also reduce the amount of enforcement effort
necessary to identify fishing vessels operating suspiciously. Law-abiding pangas will concentrate in
launching zones, reducing the total number of pangas operating from remote beaches. All pangas
found launching from undesignated areas will warrant further investigation, and may receive a fine for
their noncompliance. Those illegal fishermen attempting to blend in with legal panga operators at the
designated launch zones could then be identified by a simple risk assessment – is this boat carrying an
unusually high number of crew? Do they have a clear reason to go out on the Gulf (e.g. are they
carrying legal fishing equipment)? The enactment of these restrictions could significantly narrow the
number of pangas that need to be monitored by enforcement officials, without dramatically
overburdening legal panga operators.
10. Dedicate Mexican enforcement agents or military officials to scanning the shore,
particularly the western shore, of the Gulf of California for getaway vehicles.
Since illegal fishermen generally leave hidden getaway vehicles behind as they fish on the Gulf,
Mexican enforcement and military officials could work to identify these vehicles onshore, and wait for
the return of the panga and its crew. At sea, illegal fishermen fleeing official vessels have a fairly good
chance of escaping and returning to shore unscathed. On land, particularly on the coast, suspected
illegal fishermen have fewer get-away options, and can easily be cornered if necessary.
To avoid having to deploy a large number of officials to constantly patrol the Gulf’s many beaches,
drones could be used as a first step to identify potential vehicles of interest. Officials would then verify
the drones’ preliminary findings, reducing enforcement’s time commitment while simultaneously
boosting efficiency.
11. Increase the number of Mexican enforcement agents and military officials on and
around the Gulf of California.
The number of enforcement agents and military officials on and around the Gulf currently are simply
too few to pose any significant threat to the much larger numbers of illegal fishermen on the water,
and totoaba traffickers on land. The Fifth Meeting of CIRVA, for example, determined informally
that PROFEPA’s resources would have to increase ten times to combat totoaba trafficking
effectively.ccli Although the Mexican government over the past few years has consistently dedicated
more resources to combatting totoaba fishing and trafficking, more are needed to match the
capabilities of the criminal networks involved in totoaba trafficking.30 In the effort to make the most
of limited resources, efficiency and resource-minimal enforcement strategies (e.g. the use of drones)

30Re-allocating resources away from ineffective or poorly designed programs to well-functioning ones would also improve
results while at the same time limiting additional costs.

69
should be implemented whenever possible to reduce the burden on law enforcement and military
officials.
The U.S. and Chinese governments, as important players in the totoaba trafficking supply chain, could
contribute resources, investigative support, training, etc. to the Mexican agencies combatting the illicit
totoaba trade at its source. cclii Supporting enforcement efforts here will mean that fewer seizures,
arrests, etc. of traffickers and retailers will be necessary elsewhere.
12. Implement a system to reduce the risks of corruption within the Mexican military and
government units tasked with monitoring the Gulf.
Totoaba’s high value, combined with comparatively low wages for government employees, and the
arguably unstable security situation in the Gulf, mean that those officials tasked with pursuing totoaba
fishermen and traffickers are at a high risk of becoming corrupt, as totoaba traffickers offer to pay
them for their silence.
One way to help reduce corruption amongst the relevant government officials would be to rotate the
agents and officials in the Gulf region with agents operating elsewhere in Mexico. This should prevent
totoaba traffickers from being able to rely on established relationships with officials to operate with
impunity. Similarly, officials staffed from outside the Gulf region will be less susceptible to threats,
since their families and property will be located elsewhere.
Regardless of the method implemented, the chances of officials becoming corrupt in the Gulf is far
too high for enforcement and the military to successfully operate without at least an anti-corruption
program.

Trafficking
13. Investigate the organized criminal networks supporting and benefiting from totoaba
trafficking.
Enforcement authorities in Mexico, the United States, and China should work to map the networks
behind totoaba trafficking to understand how totoaba is moved, who is involved in moving it, and
who primarily is benefiting from the illicit sale of totoaba. In other words, law enforcement should
treat totoaba trafficking like any other transnational organized crime and “follow the money” moved
by the network to identify its most powerful and essential players.
Once sufficient evidence has been compiled, network members should be arrested and charged in
accordance with Recommendation 14 below.
In the past, other crime types have been prioritized by government officials, particularly in the United
States and China, since totoaba trafficking has been considered a conservation problem. While this is
to some extent unavoidable, the organized crime element of totoaba trafficking elevates it from a
conservation issue to a transnational security problem, and should be prioritized accordingly.
Furthermore, if totoaba trafficking remains a low priority, totoaba networks will continue to expand
and professionalize, creating a larger security threat immediately adjacent to the United States’
southwest border.
14. Actively pursue prosecutions of identified totoaba traffickers. Ensure that convicted
higher-level traffickers receive substantial criminal penalties, and that anti-totoaba
trafficking cases are reported by the press at least after their conclusion.

70
To date, there have been no significant prosecutions of high-level totoaba traffickers in Mexico, even
though some traffickers are known to locals, and likely local law enforcement as well. As a result,
traffickers know they face not only a low chance of being caught, but also a virtually nonexistent
chance of receiving punishment for their crimes. This perception must be changed in order to
successfully deter people from engaging in the totoaba trade. To do so, Mexican authorities should
actively pursue criminal investigations of known and suspected traffickers, and should try to ensure
that the totoaba cases make it to court. To be effective, a number of high-profile suspects will need
to receive substantial penalties. The cases will have to be publicized to ensure that the high risks
associated with totoaba trafficking are well known.
The above strategies will do little to deter and combat illegal fishing in the Gulf without the promise
of certain prosecution and jail time.
15. Determine cause for lack of totoaba seizures at the U.S. border since 2013.
U.S. and Mexican customs and enforcement officials should work together to understand why and
how totoaba bladders moving into the United States have escaped detection since 2013. Although
many bladders may now be processed in Mexico and then sent directly to Asia without passing through
the United States, some totoaba bladders are still moving into the United States. Traffickers therefore
appear to have found a way to evade detection at U.S. border crossings. Determining how this has
been possible may also have implications for how customs officials search for other illicit goods, like
narcotics or weapons, at that same section of the border.
16. Educate enforcement and customs officials in central and eastern Mexico on the issue
of totoaba trafficking.
As enforcement awareness of totoaba trafficking has increased in northwestern Mexico and along the
U.S. border, totoaba traffickers may have begun to move eastward, towards regions where totoaba is
all but unknown. In addition, as enforcement pressure continues to escalate in Baja California, totoaba
traffickers can be expected to increasingly shift their operations east, through Sonora and towards
Chihuahua. Beginning to raise awareness now will ensure that the relevant Mexican officials are
prepared to combat this shift.
17. Similarly, educate enforcement and customs officials outside of the southwestern
border region in the United States, as well as officials in Hong Kong, mainland China,
and Japan.
The dearth of totoaba seizures outside of Mexico is likely due to a lack of awareness of totoaba
trafficking on the part of non-Mexican government officials. This is particularly true in Asia, where
seizures have been virtually nonexistent thus far, even though thousands of totoaba bladders have
successfully arrived in Hong Kong and mainland China over the past few years alone.
While southwestern U.S. customs officials are generally well aware of totoaba trafficking, U.S. officials
elsewhere generally are not. Since traffickers may be flying totoaba out of Baja California to airports
farther north in the United States to avoid knowledgeable U.S. border agents, a broader group of U.S.
customs officials should be educated on identifying totoaba.
18. Train sniffer dogs at Mexican and U.S. border crossings and airports to check for
totoaba.
Because totoaba bladders can be difficult to identify, sniffer dogs should be trained to pinpoint totoaba
in cargo shipments, checked baggage, and on traveler’s persons. These dogs could then be deployed

71
at Mexican and U.S. road checkpoints, border crossings, ports, and airports on the western coast. In
addition to detecting a far greater number of bladders, the dogs’ discoveries will likely reveal how so
much totoaba trafficking has gone undiscovered.

Destination
19. Investigate known importers, retailers, and consumers of totoaba bladders in Hong
Kong and elsewhere.
Similar to Recommendations 13 and 14 above, known importers of totoaba should be thoroughly
investigated by Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities. As in Mexico and the U.S., enforcement
authorities need to make clear that they are dedicated to combatting totoaba trafficking, and that
identified importers and sellers of totoaba will face the full extent of the law. The promise of swift
punishment will help to reduce demand for totoaba, incentivizing both traders and consumers to opt
for different fish maw products instead.
20. Survey Beijing and Shanghai seafood shops and markets to determine the extent of
their involvement in totoaba sales.
As mentioned previously, the extent to which Beijing and Shanghai seafood retailers are involved in
selling totoaba products remains unknown, even though there is evidence to suggest that totoaba is
often destined for both cities. Since both Beijing and Shanghai are far from Hong Kong and southern
China, and because past identified totoaba shipments destined for the cities have left from Hong Kong,
it is likely that totoaba destined for either Beijing or Shanghai is meant for internal seafood markets,
rather than shipment southward to totoaba’s better known demand region.
Undercover investigations by Chinese enforcement or NGOs should be undertaken to determine
whether the cities’ seafood markets are involved in totoaba trafficking. The results will reveal the
extent to which anti-totoaba trafficking measures should be enacted there.
21. Improve surveillance and enforcement regarding totoaba sales in Guangdong province.
Guangdong province seems to be the most prominent demand region for totoaba bladders in the
world, and as such has a large role to play in the eradication of totoaba demand, and the survival of
the totoaba and vaquita species. However, both EIA and EAL have found totoaba sales in
Guangdong’s cities Guangzhou and Shantou to be prominent, even as totoaba sales have diminished
or gone underground in Hong Kong in response to enforcement activity. Guangdong traders told
EAL investigators that although inspections of seafood shops and markets are now being performed,
officials warn shopkeepers of impending inspections with enough time for them to hide their illicit
seafood products. This lax enforcement behavior has provided totoaba traders with a way to continue
to sell totoaba bladders even in the face of increasing awareness of totoaba trafficking. Steps should
be taken to improve enforcement practices regarding totoaba in this region.
Note that significantly increasing enforcement, without also investigating and prosecuting identified
totoaba retailers, wholesalers, and consumers, will cause the most persistent portion of the totoaba
trade to better conceal itself, rather than stopping those companies and individuals from engaging in
it.

72
 22. Ban totoaba sales on e-commerce websites, monitor websites for covert totoaba
advertisements, remove likely totoaba ads, and ban users that seem to repeatedly post
totoaba for sale.
C4ADS found that online sales of totoaba bladders have continued, seemingly unaffected, or even
perhaps bolstered, by declining bladder prices and increasing anti-totoaba trafficking enforcement
activity in Hong Kong. We simultaneously noted that prominent Chinese e-commerce sites have done
nothing to ensure that the fish maw ads on their website are not illicit. Since the continued viability of
the vaquita becomes more precarious every day, e-commerce websites should do their part to ensure
that they are not part of the problem, and are instead helping to support the solution. Websites that
take this duty seriously could champion their dedication to the health of the environment and
endangered species. Finally, since there are at most only a few totoaba bladder ads on prominent
Chinese e-commerce sites at any given time, monitoring and removing those ads and their posters
should not be time-consuming or eliminate a large number of users from the platforms.

73
Citations

i The price of totoaba bladders has since declined slightly.
ii United States of America v. Song Shen Zhen. United States District Court - Southern District of California. 19 April
2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/06/23/Zhen%20complaint.pdf.
iii The 240 bladders were worth an estimated $361,500 in Mexico and $1,265,250 in the U.S.
iv EIA. Collateral Damage. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
v Mexico. Procaduría General de la República (PGR). Unidad de Transparencia y Apertura Gubernamental. Información de

Totoaba. June 2016.

vi “Totoaba macdonaldi.” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. www.iucnredlist.org/details/22003/0.
vii Center for Biological Diversity. “Re: Request for Response to 2014 Pelly Petition to Certify Mexico for Totoaba Trade

in Violation of CITES.” Letter to Secretary Pritzker, Secretary Jewell, and Directors Arroyo and Henderschedt. 28 June
2016. www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/vaquita/pdfs/Mexico_Totoaba_Pelly_Certification_Update
_6_28_16.pdf.
viii Guilford, Gwynn. "How China’s Fish Bladder Investment Craze Is Wiping out Species on the Other Side of the

Planet." Quartz. Quartz, 24 August 2015. https://qz.com/468358/how-chinas-fish-bladder-investment-craze-is-wiping-

out-species-on-the-other-side-of-the-planet/.
ix "Illegal Fishing Practices Impacts on Vaquita in Mexico." Greenpeace. Greenpeace Media, 16 March 2015.

http://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Illegal-Fishing-Practices-Impacts-on-Vaquita-in-Mexico-27MZIF3YP23E.html.
x Center for Biological Diversity. “Re: Request for Response to 2014 Pelly Petition to Certify Mexico for Totoaba Trade

in Violation of CITES.” Letter to Secretary Pritzker, Secretary Jewell, and Directors Arroyo and Henderschedt. 28 June
2016. www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/vaquita/pdfs/Mexico_Totoaba_Pelly_Certification_Update
_6_28_16.pdf.
xi United States of America v. Raquel Castaneda. United States District Court - Southern District of California. 1 April

2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/06/23/Castaneda%20complaint.pdf.
United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie (1), Anthony Sanchez Bueno (2). United States District Court - Southern
District of California. 30 March 2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/06/23/Xie%20
Complaint.pdf.
United States of America v. Song Shen Zhen. United States District Court - Southern District of California. 19 April
2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/06/23/Zhen%20complaint.pdf.
United States of America v. Oi Chung. United States District Court - Southern District of California. 27 February 2013.
www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/04/30/Chung%20complaint.pdf.
xii Montejano, Claudia Gamboa, and Miriam Gutiérrez Sánchez. Legalización del consumo, producción y comercialización de las

drogas, elementos para el debate en México. Dirección General de Servicios de Documentación, Información y Análisis, June
2013. www.diputados.gob.mx/sedia/sia/spi/SAPI-ISS-41-13.pdf.
xiii Notimex. "Avalan Endurecer Penas Contra Pesca Furtiva; Entre Ellas, De Totoaba." El Universal. El Universal, 13

December 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/politica/2016/12/13/avalan-endurecer-penas-contra-pesca-

furtiva-entre-ellas-de.
xiv República de México. Procaduría General de la República (PGR). Unidad de Transparencia y Apertura

Gubernamental. Información del Tráfico de Totoaba. June 2016.

xv Information from Sea Shepherd’s 2016 – 2017 gillnet retrieval data.
xvi CIRVA-2.
xvii D'Agrosa, Caterina, Omar Vidal, and William C. Graham. "Mortality of the Vaquita (Phocoena Sinus) in Gillnet

Fisheries During 1993-94." Rep. Intl. Whal. Commn Special Issue 16 (1995): 283-91. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/d-
agrosaetal.95.pdf
xviii Barlow, Jay, Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, Carlos Muños-Piña, and Sarah Mesnick. "Conservation of the Vaquita

(Phocoena Sinus) in the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico." Marine Fisheries Conservation and Management (2010): 205-
14. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/barlow-et-al-2010-vaquitachapter_graftonch15.pdf
xix Ibid.
xx CIRVA-1, CIRVA-2, and CIRVA-3. http://vivatest97.businesscatalyst.com/assets/international(cirva)04.pdf.
xxi Barlow, Jay, Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, Carlos Muños-Piña, and Sarah Mesnick. "Conservation of the Vaquita (Phocoena

Sinus) in the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico." Marine Fisheries Conservation and Management (2010): 205-14.
www.vivavaquita.org/assets/barlow-et-al-2010-vaquitachapter_graftonch15.pdf
xxii CIRVA-1, CIRVA-2, and CIRVA-3. http://vivatest97.businesscatalyst.com/assets/international(cirva)04.pdf.

74

xxiii See Ardjosoediro & Bourns (2010) Protecting the Vaquita: Balancing Biodiversity and Business in the Upper Gulf of
California, presented at Iama’s 20th annual World Forum & Symposium, Boston, June 18-22, 2010.
xxiv CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
xxv CIRVA-8. http://vaquitafilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CIRVA-8-Report-Final.pdf.
xxvi CIRVA-1, CIRVA-2, and CIRVA-3. http://vivatest97.businesscatalyst.com/assets/international(cirva)04.pdf.
xxvii CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
xxviii CIRVA-5. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva2014.pdf.

CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
CIRVA-8. http://vaquitafilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CIRVA-8-Report-Final.pdf.
xxix CIRVA-8. http://vaquitafilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CIRVA-8-Report-Final.pdf
xxx "Sea Shepherd Crew's Life Threatened by Mexican 'Cartels' in The Gulf of California." Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 9 September 2016. www.seashepherd.org/news-and-commentary/news/sea-

shepherd-crew-s-life-threatened-by-mexican-cartels-in-the-gulf-of-california.html.
xxxi Translated from Spanish. Jiménez, Benito. "Trafican Totoaba Por Aire a Asia." Reforma. 22 August 2016.

www.reforma.com/aplicacioneslibre/preacceso/articulo/default.aspx?id=921042&v=4&urlredirect=http://www.refor
ma.com/aplicaciones/articulo/default.aspx?id=921042&v=4.
xxxii Testimony of William Woody. Stopping the Money Flow: The War on Terror Finance. 9 June 2016.

www.fws.gov/le/pdf/ChiefWoodyOralStatementFINAL6-9-16.pdf.
xxxiii Mexico also recently legally established that three or more people organizing to commit crimes against totoaba

repeatedly could be charged with organized criminal activity. Penalties for the illegal fishing of totoaba and other species
were also increased from a maximum of two years to a maximum of 18 years in prison. Notimex. "Avalan Endurecer
Penas Contra Pesca Furtiva; Entre Ellas, De Totoaba." El Universal. El Universal, 13 December 2016.
www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/politica/2016/12/13/avalan-endurecer-penas-contra-pesca-furtiva-entre-
ellas-de.
xxxiv República de México. Senado LXIII. Comisiones Unidas de Justicia; y de Estudios Legislativos. Dictamen de las

Comisiones Unidas de Justicia; y de Estudios Legislativos, con la Opinión de la Comisión de Pesca y Acuacultura, de la Minuta con
Proyecto de Decreto por el que se Reforma el Artículo 420 del Código Penal Federal y se Adiciona una Fracción X al Artículo 2o de la Ley
Federal Contra la Delincuencia Organizada. Mexico City, 2017. www.senado.gob.mx/sgsp/gaceta/63/2/2017-02-21-
1/assets/documentos/Dic_Justicia_Delincuencia_Organizada.pdf.
xxxv Martínez, Raúl Flores. “Los Cárteles de la Droga tras Especies en Peligro de Extinción.” Excélsior. 28 July 2016.

www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2016/07/28/1107701.
xxxvi Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Los Narcobucheros del Golfo de Santa Clara.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 4 April 2016.

http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/04/los-narcobucheros-del-golfo-de-santa-clara/.
Editorial Staff. “Golfo de Santa Clara Paraíso de ‘Narco-Bucheros’.” Portada de Sonora. Portada de Sonora, 3 April 2016.
http://portadadesonora.com.mx/index.php/2016/04/03/golfo-de-santa-clara-paraiso-de-narco-bucheros/.
Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Pesca Ilegal de Totoaba: Corrupción y Simulación.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 11 April 2016.
http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/11/pesca-ilegal-de-totoaba-corrupcion-y-simulacion/.
xxxvii "Illegal Fishing Practices Impacts on Vaquita in Mexico." Greenpeace. Greenpeace Media, 16 March 2015.

http://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Illegal-Fishing-Practices-Impacts-on-Vaquita-in-Mexico-27MZIF3YP23E.html.
xxxviii Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Los Narcobucheros del Golfo de Santa Clara.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 4 April 2016.

http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/04/los-narcobucheros-del-golfo-de-santa-clara/.
Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Pesca Ilegal de Totoaba: Corrupción y Simulación.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 11 April 2016.
http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/11/pesca-ilegal-de-totoaba-corrupcion-y-simulacion/.
Melgoza Vega, Humberto. “Golfo de Santa Clara Paraíso de ‘Narco-Bucheros’.” Contraseña. Semanario Contraseña, 1
April 2016. http://contrasena.com.mx/semanario/2016/04/golfo-santa-clara-paraiso-narco-bucheros/.
xxxix Zetwo, Michelle, Melanie Pierson, Katherine Moore, Luis Enriquez Paredes, and Mary Burnham Curtis. "Global

Cooperation in Fisheries Enforcement: The Investigation and Prosecution of Toboaba Traffickers." 5th Global Fisheries
Enforcement Training Workshop. 5th Global Fisheries Enforcement Training Workshop, Auckland, New Zealand, March
2016. http://gfetw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Michelle-Zetwo-NOAA-Investigation-and-Prosecution-of-
Totoaba-Traffickers.pdf
xl CIRVA-5. http://www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva2014.pdf
xli CIRVA-1, CIRVA-2, and CIRVA-3. http://vivatest97.businesscatalyst.com/assets/international(cirva)04.pdf.
xlii Ibid.
xliii Ibid.
xliv Ibid.

75

xlv Afflerbach, Jamie, Anthony Broderick, D. Jacy Brunkow, Sean Herron, Jade Sainz, and Sanaz Sohrabian. An Analysis
of Bioeconomic Tradeoffs in Vaquita Conservation Policies. Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, U of
California Santa Barbara, and WWF – Mexico, 2013. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/afflerbachetal.2013(report).pdf.
xlvi Ibid.
xlvii Ibid.
xlviii CIRVA-5. http://www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva2014.pdf
xlix CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
l Ibid.
li República de México. Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR). Operativos contra el Tráfico de Totoaba. May 2016.
lii Oona Layolle (Sea Shepherd), in discussion with the authors, March 2017.
liii Ibid.
liv Ibid.
lv CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
lvi Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Pescadores Ven Estallido Social por 'Totoabagate.'”

El Universal. 15 Dec. 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/2016/12/15/pescadores-ven-estallido-social-por-

totoabagate.
lvii Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Totoaba. La Disputa por la Plaza.” El Universal. 14

December 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/periodismo-de-investigacion/2016/12/14/totoaba-la-disputa-por-

la-plaza-narcobuchera.
lviii Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Pescadores Ven Estallido Social por 'Totoabagate.'”

El Universal. 15 Dec. 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/2016/12/15/pescadores-ven-estallido-social-por-

totoabagate.
lix Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Totoaba. La Disputa por la Plaza.” El Universal. 14

December 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/periodismo-de-investigacion/2016/12/14/totoaba-la-disputa-por-

la-plaza-narcobuchera.
lx CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
lxi Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Los Narcobucheros del Golfo de Santa Clara.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 4 April 2016.

http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/04/los-narcobucheros-del-golfo-de-santa-clara/.
Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Pesca Ilegal de Totoaba: Corrupción y Simulación.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 11 April 2016.
http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/11/pesca-ilegal-de-totoaba-corrupcion-y-simulacion/.
Melgoza Vega, Humberto. “Golfo de Santa Clara Paraíso de ‘Narco-Bucheros’.” Contraseña. Semanario Contraseña, 1
April 2016. http://contrasena.com.mx/semanario/2016/04/golfo-santa-clara-paraiso-narco-bucheros/.
lxii Dórame, Daniel Sánchez. “Aprovechan traficantes disturbio para capturar totoaba: pescadores. Última Palabra, 15-21

March 2017. http://ultimapalabra.com/impresoi/20170315/20170315_06.pdf.

lxiii Ibid.
lxiv CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
lxv Dórame, Daniel Sánchez. “Aprovechan traficantes disturbio para capturar totoaba: pescadores. Última Palabra, 15-21

March 2017. http://ultimapalabra.com/impresoi/20170315/20170315_06.pdf.

lxvi Ibid.
lxvii Ibid.
lxviii Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Los Narcobucheros del Golfo de Santa Clara.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 4 April 2016.

http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/04/los-narcobucheros-del-golfo-de-santa-clara/.
lxix Ibid.
lxx Editorial Staff. “Golfo de Santa Clara Paraíso de ‘Narco-Bucheros’.” Portada de Sonora. Portada de Sonora, 3 April

2016. http://portadadesonora.com.mx/index.php/2016/04/03/golfo-de-santa-clara-paraiso-de-narco-bucheros/.
lxxi Melgoza Vega, Humberto. “Golfo de Santa Clara Paraíso de ‘Narco-Bucheros’.” Contraseña. Semanario Contraseña, 1

April 2016. http://contrasena.com.mx/semanario/2016/04/golfo-santa-clara-paraiso-narco-bucheros/.

lxxii Translated from Spanish. Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Pesca Ilegal de Totoaba: Corrupción y Simulación.” ZETA Tijuana.

ZETA, 11 April 2016. http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/11/pesca-ilegal-de-totoaba-corrupcion-y-simulacion/.

lxxiii "Illegal Fishing Practices Impacts on Vaquita in Mexico." Greenpeace. Greenpeace Media, 16 March 2015.

http://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Illegal-Fishing-Practices-Impacts-on-Vaquita-in-Mexico-27MZIF3YP23E.html.
lxxiv “El Gran Negocio del Buche de Totoaba.” El Mexicano. El Mexicano. http://ipad.el-mexicano.com.mx/paginas/

noticia.aspx?id=748137&cat=3.
lxxv Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Pescadores Ven Estallido Social por 'Totoabagate.'”

El Universal. 15 Dec. 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/2016/12/15/pescadores-ven-estallido-social-por-

totoabagate.

76

Martínez, Raúl Flores. “Los Cárteles de la Droga tras Especies en Peligro de Extinción.” Excelsior. 28 July 2016.
www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2016/07/28/1107701.
lxxvi Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Totoaba. La Disputa por la Plaza.” El Universal. 14

December 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/periodismo-de-investigacion/2016/12/14/totoaba-la-disputa-por-

la-plaza-narcobuchera.
lxxvii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Asegura PROFEPA

Contrabando de Totoaba con Valor en Mercado Negro Asiático Entre 35 y 60 Mil Dólares. 21 July 2014. www.profepa.gob.mx/
innovaportal/v/6153/1/mx/asegura_profepa_contrabando_de_totoaba_con_valor_en_mercado_negro_asiatico_entre_
35_y_60_mil_dolares.html.
lxxviii Ibid.
lxxix “Detienen Persona con Dos Buches de Totoaba en Mazatlán.” Linea Directa. Linea Directo Portal, 16 January 2016.

www.lineadirectaportal.com/movil/publicacion.php?id=278045&origen=s&seccionID=&back=seccion.php?seccionID
=5&seccion=%201/2.
lxxx Ibid.
lxxxi República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Detenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

lxxxii CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
lxxxiii CIRVA-8. http://vaquitafilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CIRVA-8-Report-Final.pdf.
lxxxiv República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Detenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

lxxxv República de México. Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR). Operativos contra el Tráfico de Totoaba. May 2016.
lxxxvi Ibid.
lxxxvii "Traficantes de Totoaba Utilizan Lanchas Rápidas para Escapar: Profepa." La Jornada. Desarrollo de Medios, SA de

CV (DEMOS), 23 March 2017. www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2017/03/23/traficantes-de-totoaba-utilizan-lanchas-

rapidas-para-escapar-de-profepa.
lxxxviii Ibid.
lxxxix Ibid.
xc “Decomisan Artes para Pesca Ilegal de Totoaba.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 7 December 2015.

http://zetatijuana.com/2015/12/07/decomisan-artes-para-pesca-ilegal-de-tototaba/.
xci Ibid.
xcii Ibid.
xciii "Illegal Fishing Practices Impacts on Vaquita in Mexico." Greenpeace. Greenpeace Media, 16 March 2015.

http://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Illegal-Fishing-Practices-Impacts-on-Vaquita-in-Mexico-27MZIF3YP23E.html.
xciv República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Realiza PROFEPA Peritaje de

274 Buches de Totoaba Asegurados a Tres Individuos de Nacionalidad China en Aeropuerto de Tijuana.” 1 August
2015. www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/7416/1/mx/realiza_profepa_peritaje_de_274_buches_de_totoaba
_asegurados_a_tres_individuos_de_nacionalidad_china_en_aeropuerto_de_tijuana.html.
xcv Some totoaba fishermen also rely on longlines.
xcvi Oona Layolle (Sea Shepherd), in discussion with the authors, March 2017.
xcvii CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
xcviiiRepública de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Presentan SEDENA y

PROFEPA ante El MPF a 2 Personas por Posesión de 6 Buches de Totoaba, en Baja California.” 14 February 2016.
www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/8025/1/mx/presentan_sedena_y_profepa_ante_el_mpf_a_2_personas_por_pos
esion_de_6_buches_de_totoaba_en_baja_california.html.
xcix "Illegal Fishing Practices Impacts on Vaquita in Mexico." Greenpeace. Greenpeace Media, 16 March 2015.

http://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Illegal-Fishing-Practices-Impacts-on-Vaquita-in-Mexico-27MZIF3YP23E.html.
c Ramos, Inés García. “Aseguran 400 Mil Pesos en Totoaba en San Felipe, Hay un Detenido.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 23

February 2016. http://zetatijuana.com/2016/02/23/aseguran-400-mil-pesos-en-totoaba-en-san-felipe-hay-un-

detenido/.
ci “El Gran Negocio del Buche de Totoaba.” El Mexicano. El Mexicano. http://ipad.el-mexicano.com.mx/paginas/

noticia.aspx?id=748137&cat=3.
cii Cordero, Sergio Haro. “Pesca Ilegal de Totoaba: Corrupción y Simulación.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA, 11 April 2016.

http://zetatijuana.com/2016/04/11/pesca-ilegal-de-totoaba-corrupcion-y-simulacion/.
ciii CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
civ “Decomison Militares ‘Buches’ en San Felipe. La Cronica. La Cronica, 1 January 2017. www.lacronica.com/

EdicionEnlinea/Notas/Policiaca/13012017/1168543-Decomisan-militares-buches-en-San-Felipe.html.
cv Ibid.

77

cvi Ibid.
cvii Ramos, Inés García. “Aseguran 400 Mil Pesos en Totoaba en San Felipe, Hay un Detenido.” ZETA Tijuana. ZETA,
23 February 2016. http://zetatijuana.com/2016/02/23/aseguran-400-mil-pesos-en-totoaba-en-san-felipe-hay-un-
detenido/.
cviii CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
cix United States of America. Department of Justice. “Massive Trade in Endangered Species Uncovered; U.S. Attorney

Charges 7 with Smuggling Swim Bladders of Endangered Fish Worth Millions on Black Market; Officials See Trend.” 24
April 2013. www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/massive-trade-endangered-species-uncovered-us-attorney-charges-7-
smuggling-swim.
cx While many PROFEPA seizure press releases and news articles fail to state whether seized totoaba bladders were found

dried or wet, those that do are sufficient to build a baseline understanding of the point at which totoaba bladders are
processed. In other cases, seizure press releases and news articles reveal enough information to determine whether the
confiscated bladders were dry or not (i.e. totoaba bladders found in coolers are almost certainly fresh, while extremely
light-weight bladders are most likely dry).
cxi República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Detenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

cxii Martínez, Raúl Flores. “Los Cárteles de la Droga tras Especies en Peligro de Extinción.” Excelsior. Imagen Digital, 28

July 2016. www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2016/07/28/1107701.

cxiii República de México. Senado LXIII. Comisiones Unidas de Justicia; y de Estudios Legislativos. Dictamen de las

Comisiones Unidas de Justicia; y de Estudios Legislativos, con la Opinión de la Comisión de Pesca y Acuacultura, de la Minuta con
Proyecto de Decreto por el que se Reforma el Artículo 420 del Código Penal Federal y se Adiciona una Fracción X al Artículo 2o de la Ley
Federal Contra la Delincuencia Organizada. Mexico City, 2017. www.senado.gob.mx/sgsp/gaceta/63/2/2017-02-21-
1/assets/documentos/Dic_Justicia_Delincuencia_Organizada.pdf.
cxiv Ramírez, Julio. “El Pez del Narco.” Reporte Indigo. Reporte Indigo, 24 January 2013. www.reporteindigo.com/reporte

/mexico/el-pez-del-narco.
cxv República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Presentan SEDENA y

PROFEPA ante El MPF a 2 Personas por Posesión de 6 Buches de Totoaba, en Baja California.” 14 February 2016.
www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/8025/1/mx/presentan_sedena_y_profepa_ante_el_mpf_a_2_personas_por_pos
esion_de_6_buches_de_totoaba_en_baja_california.html.
cxvi República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Asegura PROFEPA Buche de

Totoaba en BC y Pone a Disposición del MPF a 2 Sujetos.” www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/5880/1/mx.wap/

asegura_profepa_buche_de_totoaba_en_bc_y_pone_a_disposicion_del_mpf_a_2_sujetos.html.
Alvarez, Salvador Palma. “Millonario Decomiso de Buche de Totoaba...NOTA Y FOTOS DE CRISOL VIRTUAL.”
Arrasando La Noticia. 27 March 2014. https://arrasandolanoticia.blogspot.com/2014/03/millonario-decomiso-de-buche-
de.html.
“Decomisan Buche de Totoaba en San Felipe.” MonitorBC.info. 27 March 2014. www.monitorbc.info/nota.php?nta=
3819&sec=ecnm.
cxvii "Illegal Fishing Practices Impacts on Vaquita in Mexico." Greenpeace. Greenpeace Media, 16 March 2015.

http://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Illegal-Fishing-Practices-Impacts-on-Vaquita-in-Mexico-27MZIF3YP23E.html.
cxviii While there have been a few other totoaba seizures in and around Tijuana, Ensenada, Mexicali, and San Luis Río

Colorado, these seizures have all occurred during export to the United States or China. Note that there have been no
known seizures at consolidation centers in Mexico.
cxix República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Dentenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

cxx Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Trafican con Totoabas, Un Pex Más Caro que la

Cocaina.” El Universal. El Universal, 13 December 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/periodismo-de-

investigacion/2016/12/13/trafican-con-totoabas-un-pez-mas-caro-que-la-cocaina.
cxxi Ibid.
cxxii This sample of drug seizures from 2009 to 2016 was compiled to illustrate the general movements of drugs in and

around Baja California. These seizures are not meant to be an exhaustive collection of all drug seizures in the region.
cxxiii Alvarado, Enrique, Andrés M. Estrada, and Alejandro Melgoza. “Trafican con Totoabas, Un Pex Más Caro que la

Cocaina.” El Universal. El Universal, 13 December 2016. www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/periodismo-de-

investigacion/2016/12/13/trafican-con-totoabas-un-pez-mas-caro-que-la-cocaina.
cxxiv República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Detenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

cxxv República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Asegura PROFEPA Buche de

Totoaba en BC y Pone a Disposición del MPF a 2 Sujetos.” www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/5880/1/mx.wap/

78

asegura_profepa_buche_de_totoaba_en_bc_y_pone_a_disposicion_del_mpf_a_2_sujetos.html.
Alvarez, Salvador Palma. “Millonario Decomiso de Buche de Totoaba...NOTA Y FOTOS DE CRISOL VIRTUAL.”
Arrasando La Noticia. 27 March 2014. https://arrasandolanoticia.blogspot.com/2014/03/millonario-decomiso-de-buche-
de.html.
cxxvi República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente. “Policia Federal Cargamento de 90 Buches

de Totoaba, en Baja California.” 6 April 2015. www.profepa.gob.mx/

innovaportal/v/6994/1/mx.wap/asegura_policia_federal_cargamento_de_90_buches_de_totoaba__en_baja_california.
html.
cxxvii Vargas, Elizabeth. “Localizan Buches de Totoaba en San Quintín.” Ensenada.net. Ensenada.net, 26 September 2015.

www.ensenada.net/noticias/nota.php?id=41963&&SearchQuery=.
cxxviii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “SEDENA y PROFEPA

Ponen a Disposición del Ministerio Público de la Federación a 2 Personas por Posesión y Tráfico de 3 Buches de
Totoaba.” 29 December 2016. www.gob.mx/profepa/prensa/sedena-y-profepa-ponen-a-disposicion-del-ministerio-
publico-de-la-federacion-a-2-personas-por-posesion-y-trafico-de-3-buches-de-totoaba?idiom=es.
Araiza, Iris. “Pareja llevaba 3 buches de totoaba.” PoderMx. PoderMx, 22 December 2016. http://podermx.com/
2016/12/22/pareja-llevaba-3-buches-de-totoaba/.
“Atrapan Soldados y Policías Esposos Totoaberos.” Radio Patrulla. www.radiopatrulla.com/post/154788922519/
atrapan-soldados-y-polic%C3%ADas-esposos-totoaberos.
cxxix Vicenteño, David. “Detienen a Dos Personas en Posesión de Seis ‘Buches’ de Totoaba.” Excelsior. Imagen Digital, 14

February 2016. www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2016/02/14/1075131.

cxxx República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Gobierno Federal Detiene a

Presunto Traficante con 121 ‘Buches’ de Totoaba en Baja California.” 29 March 2016. www.profepa.gob.mx/
innovaportal/v/8183/1/mx/gobierno_federal_detiene_a_presunto_traficante_con_121_“buches”_de_totoaba_en_baja
_california.html.
cxxxi Melgoza Vega, Humberto. “Golfo de Santa Clara Paraíso de ‘Narco-Bucheros’.” Contraseña. Semanario Contraseña, 1

April 2016. http://contrasena.com.mx/semanario/2016/04/golfo-santa-clara-paraiso-narco-bucheros/.

cxxxii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Asegura PROFEPA

Cargamento de 34 Buches de Totoaba y Remite al MPF a Dos Presuntos Traficantes.” 19 March 2015.
www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/6929/1/mx/asegura_profepa_cargamento_de_34_
buches_de_totoaba_y_remite_al_mpf_a_dos_presuntos_traficantes.html.
cxxxiii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Detienen PROFEPA y

Policía Federal a Persona que Traficaba Ilegalmente 11 ‘Buches’ de Totoaba, en Baja California.” 21 May 2016.
www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/8395/1/mx/detienen_profepa_y_policia_federal_a_persona_que_traficaba_ilega
lmente_11_%E2%80%9Cbuches%E2%80%9D_de_totoaba_en_baja_california.html
cxxxiv Sánchez Dórame, Daniel. “Detienen a pareja con nueve paquetes de buche de totoaba.” Excelsior. Imagen Digital,

21 March 2017. www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2017/03/21/1153290.

cxxxv Melgoza Vega, Humberto. “Vincula PGR a Proceso a Pareja del Golfo por Traficar 17 Kilos de Totoaba.”

Contraseña. Semanario Contraseña, 9 March 2017. http://contrasena.com.mx/semanario/2017/03/vincula-pgr-a-

proceso-a-pareja-del-golfo-traficar-17-kilos-totoaba/.
cxxxvi United States of America. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “Nogales CPB Officers Seize $138 Million in

Hard Drugs.” 7 November 2013. www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/nogales-cbp-officers-seize-138-million-

hard-drugs-0.
United States of America. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “San Luis CBP Officer Find Meth/Cocaine in Spare
Tire.” 8 November 2016. www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/san-luis-cbp-officers-find-methcocaine-spare-
tire.
United States of America. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “CBP Officers Arrest Mexican Woman, U.S. Juvenile
in Separate Attempts to Smuggle Heroin, Cocaine.” 25 July 2016. www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/cbp-
officers-arrest-mexican-woman-us-juvenile-separate-attempts-smuggle.
cxxxvii Totoaba bladder value estimates either based on a price of $5,000 per kilogram, or on court documents released by

the Department of Justice.

February 27, 2013: United States of America v. Oi Chung. United States District Court - Southern District of California.
27 February 2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/04/30/Chung%20complaint.pdf.
March 30, 2013: Ibid.
March 30, 2013: United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie (1), Anthony Sanchez Bueno (2). United States District Court
- Southern District of California. 30 March 2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usaosdca/legacy/2015/06/23/
Xie%20Complaint.pdf.

79

April 1, 2013: United States of America v. Raquel Castaneda. United States District Court - Southern District of
California. 1 April 2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/06/23/Castaneda%20
complaint.pdf.
April 10, 2013: United States of America v. Song Shen Zhen. United States District Court - Southern District of
California. 19 April 2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/06/23/Zhen%20complaint.pdf.
cxxxviii “El Gran Negocio del Buche de Totoaba.” El Mexicano. El Mexicano. http://ipad.el-mexicano.com.mx/paginas/

noticia.aspx?id=748137&cat=3.
cxxxix Ibid.
cxl United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie Restitution Hearing Transcript. United States District Court – Southern

District of California. 26 March 2014.

cxli Information from C4ADS’s partners.
cxlii United States of America. Department of Transportation. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
cxliii United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie (1), Anthony Sanchez Bueno (2). United States District Court - Southern

District of California. 30 March 2013. www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/06/23/Xie%20

Complaint.pdf.
cxliv Ibid.
cxlv Ibid.
cxlvi Ibid.
cxlvii United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie. Restitution Hearing Transcript. United States District Court – Southern

District of California. 26 March 2014.

United States of America. State of Washington. Secretary of State, Corporations Division.
United States of America. State of California. Secretary of State, Business Search.
United States of America. Department of Transportation. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
Google Maps Street View.
cxlviii In addition to the Xie and Song Shen Zhen cases, arrest warrants were issued in the spring of 2013 for two

undisclosed individuals who were the subjects of a totoaba trafficking investigation. United States of America.
Department of Justice. Southern District of California. “Massive Trade in Endangered Species Uncovered; U.S. Attorney
Charges 7 with Smuggling Swim Bladders of Endangered Fish Worth Millions on Black Market; Officials See Trend.” 24
April 2013. www.fws.gov/home/feature/2013/pdf/PRTOTOABAFINAL.pdf.
cxlix República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Cinco Detenidos por Tráfico

de Totoaba y Pepino Marino en Baja California.” www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/5931/1/mx.wap/cinco_

detenidos_por_trafico_de_totoaba_y_pepino_marino_en_baja_california.html.
cl Martínez, Raúl Flores. “Los Cárteles de la Droga tras Especies en Peligro de Extinción.” Excelsior. 28 July 2016.

www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2016/07/28/1107701.
cli Cummings, Joe. “Mexicali’s Chinatown: Sharks Fin Tacos and Barbecued Chow Mein.” Chinese in Mexico. 4 March

2007. https://chinese-mexico.blogspot.com/2007/03/mexicalis-chinatown-sharks-fin-tacos.html.
clii Ibid.
cliii Tong wars is a term used to describe a period of violent conflict involving rival Chinese Tongs, or organizations of

Chinese individuals often linked to Chinese criminal gangs, in the United States and Mexico. The Tong wars in the States
were most prominent from the 1880s to the 1930s, and mainly involved San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Tong
wars in northern Mexico generally took place between the 1920s and 1930s. Cummings, Joe. “Mexicali’s Chinatown:
Sharks Fin Tacos and Barbecued Chow Mein.” Chinese in Mexico. 4 March 2007. https://chinese-mexico.blogspot.com
/2007/03/mexicalis-chinatown-sharks-fin-tacos.html.
Zelenko, Michael. “The Tongs of Chinatown.” FoundSF Archive. www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Tongs_of
_Chinatown.
cliv Cummings, Joe. “Mexicali’s Chinatown: Sharks Fin Tacos and Barbecued Chow Mein.” Chinese in Mexico. 4 March

2007. https://chinese-mexico.blogspot.com/2007/03/mexicalis-chinatown-sharks-fin-tacos.html.
clv Love, Syd. “The Chinese Border: Many Agree that Mexicali Owes its Development to Asians.” Los Angeles Times. 16

August 1990. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-16/news/vw-858_1_chinese-restaurants/2.

clvi República de México. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). 2015.
clvii Millán, Omar. “15,000 Chinese Migrants Thriving in Tijuana.” San Diego Red. San Diego Red, 13 February 2012.

www.sandiegored.com/noticias/22518/15-000-Chinese-migrants-thriving-in-Tijuana/.
clviii Suárez, Matthew. “Chun Kun! Popular Tijuana Spring Roll Vendor Stops for an Interview.” San Diego Reader. San

Diego Reader, 18 July 2015. https://m.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/jul/18/stringers-chun-kun-lady-egg-rolls-

tijuana-vendor/

80

clix Dibble, Sandra. “Tijuana-Shanghai Flights to Resume.” The San Diego Union-Tribune. 12 January 2010.
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-china-lifting-ban-flights-mexico-2010jan12-story.html.
clx Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink

of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
clxi Ibid.
clxii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Dentenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

clxiii Ruvulcaba, Hugo. “Asian Mafias in Baja California.” Southern Pulse | Correspondents. Southern Pulse, 2013.

www.southernpulse.info/images/Field%20Notes/Asian_Mafias_in_Baja_California.pdf
clxiv Ibid.
clxv Testimony of Robert Dreher, Associate Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, before

the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and
Trade. Poaching and Terrorism: A National Security Challenge. 22 April 2015. http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA18/
20150422/103355/HHRG-114-FA18-Wstate-DreherR-20150422.pdf.
clxvi Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the

Brink of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
clxvii “El Gran Negocio del Buche de Totoaba.” El Mexicano. El Mexicano. http://ipad.el-mexicano.com.mx/paginas/

noticia.aspx?id=748137&cat=3.
United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie Restitution Hearing Transcript. United States District Court – Southern
District of California. 26 March 2014.
clxviii “El Gran Negocio del Buche de Totoaba.” El Mexicano. El Mexicano. http://ipad.el-mexicano.com.mx/paginas/

noticia.aspx?id=748137&cat=3.
clxix United States of America. Department of Justice. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California. “Furniture

Company Owner Admits Role Running International ‘Fish’ Smuggling Operation.” 21 July 2015. www.justice.gov/usao-
sdca/pr/furniture-company-owner-admits-role-running-international-fish-smuggling-operation.
clxx Ibid.
clxxi Alfonso, Mirna. “L.A. Furniture Guy Smuggled Endangered Abalone into Country.” Highland Park Patch. Patch

Media, 7 October 2015. http://patch.com/california/highlandpark-ca/la-furniture-guy-smuggled-endangered-abalone-

country.


clxxii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Dentenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

clxxiii Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the

Brink of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
clxxiv Ibid.
clxxv Agencia EFE. “Arrestan a Chinos por Traficar Veijgas de Pez en Peligro de Extinción.” El Nuevo Día. GFR Media, 1

August 2015. www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/internacionales/nota/intentantraficar7000librasdevejigadepezenpeligrode

extincion-2081208/.
clxxvi República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Realiza PROFEPA Peritaje

de 274 Buches de Totoaba Asegurados a Tres Individuos de Nacionalidad China, en Aeropuerto de Tijuana.” 1 August
2015. www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/7416/1/mx/realiza_profepa_peritaje_de_274_buches_de_totoaba_
asegurados_a_tres_individuos_de_nacionalidad_china_en_aeropuerto_de_tijuana.html.
clxxvii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Dentenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

clxxviii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA). “Asegura PROFEPA 385

Piezas de Buche de Totoaba en el Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México.” 27 November 2015.

www.profepa.gob.mx/innovaportal/v/6603/1/mx/asegura_profepa_385_piezas_de_
buche_de_totoaba_en__el_aeropuerto_internacional_de_la_ciudad_de_mexico.html.
clxxix Ibid.
clxxx United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie Restitution Hearing Transcript. United States District Court – Southern

District of California. 26 March 2014.

clxxxi “El Gran Negocio del Buche de Totoaba.” El Mexicano. El Mexicano. http://ipad.el-mexicano.com.mx/paginas/

noticia.aspx?id=748137&cat=3.
clxxxii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Dentenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

81

clxxxiii Vargas, Elizabeth. “Exportaba a 1.30 Pesos el Kilo de Productos Marinos.” Ensenada.net. Ensenada.net, 3 June
2013. http://ensenada.net/noticias/nota.php?id=29691.
clxxxiv United States of America v. Jason Jin Xie Restitution Hearing Transcript. United States District Court – Southern

District of California. 26 March 2014.

clxxxv United States of America. Department of Justice. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California. “Furniture

Company Used Front for International ‘Fish’ Smuggling Operation.” 9 January 2015. www.justice.gov/usao-
sdca/pr/furniture-company-used-front-international-fish-smuggling-operation.
United States of America. Department of Justice. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California. “Furniture
Company Owner Admits Role Running International ‘Fish’ Smuggling Operation.” 21 July 2015. www.justice.gov/usao-
sdca/pr/furniture-company-owner-admits-role-running-international-fish-smuggling-operation
Panjiva.
clxxxvi Information from C4ADS’s partners.

Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink of
Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/
publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
clxxxvii Caplog Group and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Mexico. China’s Luxury Seafood Demand and Mexico’s

Fisheries 2014. EDF Mexico and Caplog Group, 2014. www.edf.org/sites/default/files/content/chinasluxuryseafood

demand.pdf.
clxxxviii Ibid.
clxxxix Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
cxc Information from C4ADS’s partners.

Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink of
Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/
publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
cxci Information from C4ADS’s partners.
cxcii Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink of
Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/
publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
Information from C4ADS’s partners.
cxciii Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the

Brink of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
cxciv Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
cxcv Ibid.
cxcvi Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the

Brink of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
cxcvii Ibid.
cxcviii Information from C4ADS’s partners.

Vargas, Elizabeth. “Exportaba a 1.30 Pesos el Kilo de Productos Marinos.” Ensenada.net. Ensenada.net, 3 June 2013.
http://ensenada.net/noticias/nota.php?id=29691.
República de México. Integradora Comercial AMS SA de CV v. Presidente Constitucional de México y Otros (Case
Number: 25/2017). Buho Legal. www.buholegal.com/listaacuerdos/federal/?circuito=15&organismo=1360&tipo=
expediente&tipoexpediente=1&noexpediente=25/2017.
cxcix Ibid.
cc Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink

of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
More recent information compiled by C4ADS corroborated Greenpeace’s finding.

82

cci Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink
of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/
publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
ccii Ibid.
cciii There is also some evidence to suggest that totoaba trade activity clusters at seafood markets in other major cities in

China, including Beijing and Shanghai.

cciv Information from C4ADS’s partners.

Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink of
Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/
publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
ccv Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccvi Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink

of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
ccvii Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccviii Ibid.
ccix Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the Brink

of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
ccx Ibid.
ccxi Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccxii Ibid.
ccxiii Government of China. Government of Hong Kong. Biodiversity Conservation Division Agriculture, Fisheries and

Conservation Department. Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs. “Update on the Protection of
Endangered Species and Biodiversity in Hong Kong.” 22 February 2016. www.legco.gov.hk/yr15-
16/english/panels/ea/papers/ea20160222cb1-557-4-e.pdf
ccxiv Ibid.
ccxv Government of China. Government of Hong Kong. Department of Justice. Sub-division I Advisory. “Prosecutions

in Hong Kong 2015.” 2015. www.doj.gov.hk/eng/public/pdf/pd2015/advisory.pdf.

ccxvi Information from C4ADS’s partners.
ccxvii Crosta, Andrea and Kimberly Sutherland. Operation Fake Gold: Investigating the Southeast China Totoaba Maw Trade as this

Traditional Product is Causing the Extinction of Both the Vaquita and the Totoaba. Elephant Action League (EAL). May 2017.
https://elephantleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/EAL-Totoaba-Report-May-2017.pdf.
ccxviii Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccxix Ibid.
ccxx王钰. 2017. 打击非法经营利用黄唇鱼及加利福尼亚湾石首鱼专项执法行动结束：未发现非法经营利用行

为 (Special Enforcement Action Against Illegal Sale of Chinese Bahaba and Totoaba Comes to an End: No Illegal
Activity Discovered). 中国林业新闻网 (Green Times). http://www.greentimes.com/green/news/lyyf/fzxw/content/
2017-04/25/content_359309.htm.
ccxxi Government of China. Government of Hong Kong. Biodiversity Conservation Division Agriculture, Fisheries and

Conservation Department. Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs. “Update on the Protection of
Endangered Species and Biodiversity in Hong Kong.” 22 February 2016. www.legco.gov.hk/yr15-
16/english/panels/ea/papers/ea20160222cb1-557-4-e.pdf
ccxxii ADM Capital Foundation, et. al. Wildlife Crime: Is Hong Kong Doing Enough? December 2015. http://admcf.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/12/1-Resource-b-Wildlife-Crime-Is-Hong-Kong-Doing-Enough-Report-English-version-
December-2015.pdf
ccxxiii Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the

Brink of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

83

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
ccxxiv Ibid.
ccxxv Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccxxvi Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the

Brink of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
ccxxvii Ibid.
ccxxviii Ibid.
ccxxix Ibid.
ccxxx Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccxxxi Greenpeace Media Briefing. “How the Illegal Totoaba Trade in Hong Kong is Pushing Mexico’s Vaquita to the

Brink of Extinction.” Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, 27 May 2015. www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/

publications/campaigns/Oceans/HK%20Totoaba%20Trade_Greenpeace%20Media%20Briefing.pdf.
ccxxxii Ibid.
ccxxxiii Ibid.
ccxxxiv Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccxxxv Ibid.
ccxxxvi “Dried Fish Maw Importers.” TradeKey. TradeKey.com, 15 July 2016. http://importer.tradekey.com/dried-fish-

maw-importer.html.
ccxxxvii República de México. Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Ambiente (PROFEPA). Totoaba (Dentenciones y

Aeropuertos). May 2016.

ccxxxviii According to an online advertisement for likely totoaba bladders identified by C4ADS.
ccxxxix Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccxl Dvorak, Mozur, Osawa, Back, Kim, Huang, Lee, Chu, and Chow. “What is Alibaba?” The Wall Street Journal.

projects.wsj.com/alibaba/.
ccxli Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Collateral Damage: How Illegal Trade in Totoaba Swim Bladders is Driving the

Vaquita to Extinction. September 2016. https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Collateral-Damage-

FINAL-mr.pdf.
ccxlii Dvorak, Mozur, Osawa, Back, Kim, Huang, Lee, Chu, and Chow. “What is Alibaba?” The Wall Street Journal.

projects.wsj.com/alibaba/.
ccxliii “yoycart.com Traffic Statistics.” Alexa. Alexa Internet, Inc. www.alexa.com/siteinfo/yoycart.com.
ccxliv Recommendation in part based on a recommendation made by CIRVA after their Fifth Meeting. CIRVA-8 also

made a similar recommendation.

ccxlv Whalén, Catherine Benson. “IWC Scientific Committee Warns of Vaquita Extinction.” The International Institute for

Sustainable Development (IISD). IISD, 13 July 2016. http://sdg.iisd.org/news/iwc-scientific-committee-meets-warns-of-

vaquita-extinction/.
ccxlvi The post-meeting report from CIRVA-2 discusses different ways to design a gillnet exchange program.
ccxlvii CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.

CIRVA-8. http://vaquitafilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CIRVA-8-Report-Final.pdf.
ccxlviii Recommendation is in part based on a recommendation made by CIRVA after their Second Meeting.
ccxlix Recommendation is in part based on a recommendation made by CIRVA after their Eighth Meeting.
ccl CIRVA-7. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva-7-final-report2.pdf.
ccli CIRVA-5. www.vivavaquita.org/assets/cirva2014.pdf.
cclii Note that the U.S. government has already begun to support the Mexican government on this issue.

84