There is a thriving trade in poached South African abalone (Haliotis midae) in Hong Kong, where the marine mollusk is considered a delicacy in Cantonese cuisine, a new report claims.
The study, “An assessment of South African dried abalone Haliotis midae consumption and trade in Hong Kong,” produced by Traffic as part of the USAID-funded Wildlife TRAPS Project, finds that South African abalone imports to Hong Kong have increased in recent years, despite severe restrictions on the wild harvest. It estimates that of South African abalone imports to Hong Kong in 2015, 65 percent was illegally sourced and trafficked.
“Abalone is one of the most prized items in Cantonese cuisine – a must-have on celebratory banquet menus,” said Traffic’s Wilson Lau, author of the assessment, who said that in preparation for the Chinese New Year, thousands of people had been buying abalone in Hong Kong. “Unfortunately, if it’s dried abalone from South Africa, it may have been poached and trafficked, meaning consumers run the risk of unwittingly supporting organized crime.”
In the past decade, efforts to protect the legal abalone fishery have been undermined by international underground criminal networks. After South Africa took a number of regulatory measures in 2007 and 2008 to protect crashing abalone populations, illicit trade routes shifted, the NGO’s report said.
Instead of mainly exporting poached abalone directly to Hong Kong, traffickers increasingly smuggled it to nearby African countries such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe before re-exporting the product. Between 2008 and 2015, 61 percent of South African abalone exports to Hong Kong came from African countries outside South Africa, a significant increase from the 36 percent that was exported from outside South Africa between 2000 and 2007. Aside from one small farm in Namibia, no other African country legally exports the marine mollusk.
This highly profitable trade is managed by organized criminal syndicates that reach sellers and buyers in Hong Kong who may or may not realize their involvement is bankrolling illegal activities, Traffic said. Once poached abalone arrives in Hong Kong, under the current legislation, it can be openly traded and sold in markets alongside legally-sourced abalone.
"South African abalone is not protected in Hong Kong law, meaning that there is no course of legal or enforcement action available to block the sale of poached abalone once the product reaches the market. This could be easily resolved with a CITES listing,” said Markus Burgener, senior program officer for Traffic.
Current levels of abalone poaching have serious implications for the sustainability of the South African fishery, which in turn, could have rippling impacts on the market. One-third of all abalone imported by Hong Kong is of South African origin, and the report’s findings indicate that the availability of this abalone, along with its quality and reasonable price (compared to other more expensive abalone varieties), helps boost South African abalone’s popularity among consumers.
The report said that any reduction in South African abalone’s availability could affect Hong Kong buyers’ preference for the product – creating a strong incentive for legal producers to support measures that ensure the sustainability of supplies.
To reduce the threat of poaching and trafficking, Traffic offers nine recommendations for governments, legal producers, conservation groups, and the donor community to take action. These include listing and enforcing regulations for dried abalone trade under CITES, working with industry to support the trade in legally sourced South African abalone, and implementing methods for strengthening law enforcement, improving traceability, and raising public awareness about the species and illegal trade.
According to the research, Hong Kong’s imports of abalone progressively increased over the period 2000 to 2015, with imports more than doubling in weight from 2000, when there were 3,000 metric tons (MT) worth of imports, to 6,170 MT in 2015, having reached a peak of 6,295 MT in 2014. The economic value of the trade also increased, with abalone imports valued at almost HKD 1.6 billion (USD 204.5 million, EUR 164.8 million) in 2000, climbing to over HKD 2.1 billion (USD 268.5 million, EUR 216.4 million) in 2015.
The product is imported into Hong Kong live, dried, frozen, or in prepared and preserved form (canned, shrink wrapped, or other packaged forms). Of the four main forms of abalone, the largest quantity is imported in prepared and preserved form, with an average of 1,666 MT imported annually during the period 2000–2015. This compares with imports of live abalone, with an average of 1,217 MT annually, and frozen abalone with 1,031 MT per year. Dried abalone imports averaged 331 MT per year.
In recent years, imports of abalone in all forms have increased compared to previous periods.
At the same time, abalone re-exports from Hong Kong have increased around fourfold in weight from 2000 (466 MT) to 2015 (2,004 MT). Roughly 20 percent of all imported abalone over this period was re-exported, states the report.
The main re-export markets are Vietnam, the United States, Canada, Singapore, and China.
