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French Guiana grapples with Asian craving for fish bladder
CAYENNE, Aug 22, 2019 (AFP) – For years, Asian demand for a dried fish
bladder prized as a culinary delicacy — and purported aphrodisiac — has
been a boon to French Guiana’s fishing industry, but officials are racing to
rein in the market over fears the species will soon be endangered.
The acoupa weakfish, found along the sandy bottom of the ocean off the
coast of the Caribbean territory, has long been an important catch and often
features on local restaurant menus.
But it is the swim bladder, an opaque organ that lets the acoupa control
its buoyancy, that has fostered a thriving illegal trade, now attracting
hunters from neighbouring countries.
Dried and ground into a powder, the swim bladder is “highly appreciated in
Asia, one of the seven dishes of the Chinese emperors — in China it’s a
little bit like truffles,” said Bruno Morin, deputy director of Guiana’s
maritime administration.
Besides its reputation for boosting sexual energy, the bladder is also
used to enhance a variety of soups and other dishes, and can even be found in
cosmetics.
Demand has soared in recent years after overfishing of the totoaba — a
Gulf of California fish, also reputed for medicinal virtues in China —
prompted it to be declared an endangered species.
Five years ago, fresh acoupa bladders sold for 40 to 45 euros a kilo ($20-
22 per pound), “but now we’re at 170 to 180 euros,” Morin told AFP in the
capital, Cayenne.
And prices for dried bladders can reach 1,000 euros or more.
– ‘Stampede’ –
It takes some 30 kilos of acoupa to obtain just one kilo of bladders.
The organ did not used to find buyers at fish stalls but the soaring Asian
demand has drawn fierce competition in Guiana’s waters from armed poachers
from Suriname or Brazil seeking what has been termed the “cocaine of the
seas.”
“It’s a stampede,” said shipowner Nicolas Abchee, “but it’s a market that
should benefit us Guianans” and not foreign competitors.
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Authorities are now regularly checking boats for illicit hauls, with
one interception of a Brazilian boat in June leading to the seizure of 12
kilos of bladders.
Michel Nalovic, of the Guiana fisheries’ association, said that local
fishermen had been reporting acoupa yield declines of up to 27 percent from
last year.
“We can’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg,” Nalovic said.
Morin, of the maritime administration, said that most fishermen don’t
declare to the taxman any of the profits from acoupa bladder sales — which
generate 70 to 80 percent of their revenue.
But, he said: “Our goal is to make the bladder an economic boon for
Guiana.”
“Since people are earning their livelihoods with it, we might as well do
so legally,” Morin added.
Better regulation of the market would encourage shipowners to modernise
their fleets and equipment, he said, and could help combat illegal fishing.
“We have foreign fleets that are taking only the bladders, and throwing
back the rest of the fish because they’re less profitable,” Nalovic said.
Morin likened the practice to the harvesting of shark fins — also highly
valued in Asia.
“We’re really heading towards the risk of resource collapse” that could
see acoupa listed as an endangered species, “with all the economic and social
impact that would go with it,” he warned.
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