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- A brand new report launched by the Wildlife Justice Fee identifies the enormous clamshell commerce as a “trigger for concern.”
- It suggests the commerce might have hyperlinks with organized crime, and that it is also endangering elephants since clamshells are a viable substitute for elephant ivory.
- China and Japan are famous as potential markets of concern within the large clamshell commerce.
- Little or no is understood concerning the large clamshell commerce, which has prompted consultants to name for extra investigations into the difficulty.
In April 2021, authorities within the Philippines made a notable discovery. On a beachfront property on Sitio Inexperienced Island in Palawan province, they discovered shell after shell of large clams, all protected species, laid out on the sand. The stockpile of shells weighed greater than 200 metric tons, and their industrial worth was estimated at round 1.2 billion Philippine pesos ($23.6 million), making this essentially the most substantial confiscation in Palawan.
This seizure wasn’t an remoted incident. Up to now 5 years, authorities have reported making 13 comparable seizures of clamshells throughout the Philippines, the place federal regulation prohibits the gathering, possession or commerce of seven of the 12 identified large clam species. Violators face fines or imprisonment.
The frequency of those seizures led investigators working with Netherlands-based NGO Wildlife Justice Fee (WJC) to establish the enormous clamshell commerce as a “reason behind concern.” A brand new report launched Oct. 6 by the group suggests the commerce almost certainly has hyperlinks with organized crime syndicates. It is also endangering elephants because of the risk that carvers are utilizing large clamshells as ivory substitutes, the report says. It additionally pinpoints China and Japan as potential markets of concern, though it notes that little or no is understood concerning the commerce in these international locations.
“We thought this was an necessary problem to flag,” Olivia Swaak-Goldman, govt director of WJC, advised Mongabay in a cellphone interview. “Big clams should not fairly as charismatic as different iconic species … they usually typically get missed. And but, the influence of their unlawful commerce might be actually massive.”
‘Stuffed to the brim with shells’
Mythologized as “man-eaters,” large clams are the world’s largest shellfish. The most important of those giants, Tridacna gigas, can develop to be about 1.2 meters (4 toes) extensive and weigh about 226 kilograms (500 kilos), which is about half the burden of a grand piano. Big clams primarily exist in shallow coral reef techniques within the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, South China Sea and the Pink Sea, with the very best range of species occurring within the Coral Triangle space within the South Pacific.
For hundreds of years, folks dwelling in coastal communities in Asia and the South Pacific harvested large clams for his or her meat. However within the final 50 years, there was a substantial improve within the unlawful poaching of clams for luxurious meals, the aquarium commerce, and the decorative carving business, the WJC report says.
The report zeroes in on that latter business, which turned extremely commercialized within the Nineties. On the tropical island of Hainan, China’s southernmost province, artisans arrange retailers to remodel large clamshells into bowls, beads and ornate showpieces. In line with the report, about 150 processing workshops supplying 900 craft retailers had been current on Hainan between 2013 and 2014.
Neo Mei Lin, a senior analysis fellow on the Tropical Marine Science Institute in Singapore, visited Hainan in 2016 to analyze the commerce. When she peeked by way of the doorways of assorted warehouses, she noticed ”actually massive” stockpiles of clams that seemed like they may final for years, she advised Mongabay in a Zoom interview. “You possibly can think about a complete home simply crammed to the brim with these shells,” she stated.
To provide this carving business, fishers poached clams from coral reefs by dredging or drilling into the seabed, and even utilizing boat propellers or anchors to interrupt aside reefs and launch the clams, in keeping with the WJC report. In 2016, satellite tv for pc knowledge confirmed that 104 sq. kilometers (40 sq. miles) of the South China Sea — a world hotspot for biodiversity — had been broken by these extractive strategies.
“The method of buying the supplies was positively very, very harmful to the setting,” Neo stated. Not solely would this extraction hurt the seabed, however eradicating large clams would imperil numerous marine species that depend on large clams for meals and shelter, she added.
Essentially the most commercially helpful large clamshells are ones which have change into “fossilized” after spending a very long time within the seabed, Neo stated, since they supply a thicker floor on which to carve. Big clamshells even have larger worth after they show wealthy pink, purple and brown hues, or translucent jade-like shades, she stated.
The WJC report suggests the translucent large clamshells resemble elephant ivory when carved. Due to this fact, investigators hypothesize that clamshells might have been more and more used as an alternative to ivory when China enacted a ban on elephant ivory in 2018.
In 2017, Hainan province banned the commerce of large clamshells. Nonetheless, a report means that clamshell distributors in Hainan had been nonetheless promoting their items in early 2019.
A large clam shell carving from Hainan, China. Picture by Mei Lin Neo.
‘Vital to boost the alarm’
Issues concerning the sustainability of the enormous clamshell commerce led officers to checklist large clam species beneath Appendix II of CITES, the worldwide conference on the wildlife commerce, which strictly regulates their commerce. But it surely’s unclear whether or not these protections are having a considerable influence on the safety of large clams.
Proper now, the one indication of the dimensions and severity of the commerce are reported seizures. Since 2016, there have been 14 seizures of large clamshells within the Philippines, the biggest one happening in October 2019, when officers confiscated 120,000 metric tons of shells with an estimated worth of $39 million. There have additionally been 46 seizures reported in China, however most of those instances concerned “small, retail-level portions of shells and shell crafts,” and just one was linked to the Philippines, in keeping with the WJC report.
Regardless of the shortage of knowledge, WJC says large clamshell merchants might be concerned in organized crime. This speculation stems from the proof of subtle logistics, group and finance required to gather and transport massive portions of large clamshells. Seizures additionally have a tendency to not be adopted by arrests and prosecutions, which suggests {that a} “truthful quantity of impunity” is going on, Swaak-Goldman stated.
The report additionally notes that 17% of clamshell seizures additionally contained elephant ivory, and different kinds of ivory reminiscent of mammoth and narwhal, which means that the identical prison teams trafficking ivory is also trafficking clamshells. Different seizures of large clamshells contained different unlawful marine merchandise reminiscent of hawksbill turtle shell crafts, corals and seahorses.
“These are all issues that have to be seemed into extra,” Swaak-Goldman stated. “However these are the explanations that we thought it was actually necessary to boost the alarm on this problem.”
The report additionally means that Japan is a market of concern since its authorities doesn’t presently provide any protections for large clams. Moreover, Japan has authorized markets for each large clamshells and elephant ivory. However at current, investigators haven’t recognized any smuggling routes from the Philippines into Japan — or into China, for that matter.
Filling intelligence gaps
Swaak-Goldman stated the lack of know-how on the enormous clamshell commerce is what prompted WJC to launch its report.
“What we have to do is begin to fill these intelligence gaps,” she stated. “And to provide you with extra data concerning the smuggling routes, concerning the methods they function, what are the important thing drivers. And the best way to do this is thru an intelligence-led investigation.”
Kanitha Krishnasamy, Southeast Asia director for TRAFFIC, an NGO that screens the wildlife commerce, agrees {that a} paucity of knowledge is a priority, particularly because the proof reveals that clamshell seizures within the Philippines are rising.
“If the gaps in intelligence and knowledge are closed, governments can be in a significantly better place to answer this downside and put in place extra sturdy management measures,” Krishnasamy advised Mongabay in an e mail.
“Just like the commerce in lots of species, correct regulation of authorized commerce and a clamp down on unlawful practices is essential,” she stated. “Each these would profit enormously from extra detailed investigations and scrutiny, particularly because the WJC report notes convergences with different commodities.”
Quotation:
Feltham, J., & Capdepon, L. (2021). Big clam shells, ivory, and organised crime: Evaluation of a possible new nexus. Retrieved from Wildlife Justice Fee web site: https://wildlifejustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Big-Clam-Shells-Ivory-And-Organised-Crime_A-Potential-New-Nexus_WJC_spreads.pdf
Banner picture caption: A warehouse in Hainan with a stockpile of beads carved from large clam shells. Picture by Mei Lin Neo.
Correction (10/18/2021): The supply of knowledge relating to clamshell retailers nonetheless working in Hainan in 2019 has been modified.
Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a workers author for Mongabay. Observe her on Twitter @ECAlberts.
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