Farmed Totoaba Could Curb Poaching

UC Santa Barbara researchers find that legal markets for farmed fish could relieve pressure on wild populations

The trade of totoaba has all the intrigue of a crime thriller. Dollars and drugs change hands as a criminal cartel vies against the government. Communities and endangered species are caught in the crosshairs of a lucrative illicit trade. It may then come as a surprise that the totoaba is a fish.

The totoaba is a large, yet unassuming, species of fish native to the Gulf of California. But its mundane appearance belies incredible value on the black market. “Totoaba swimbladder can sell for up to $80,000 USD per kilogram in Chinese end-markets making it worth more than gold or cocaine,” said marine biologist Julia Lawson, who earned her doctorate from UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. This buoyancy-regulating organ is used for luxury food, expensive gifts and speculative investments in China.

To read more, please visit UC Santa Barbara’s The Current.