Seahorses are their own worst enemy.
Fished to the point of extinction for the traditional Chinese medicine market, they mate for life and their unwillingness to seek new partners after being separated has done little to improve their chances of survival.
One of their better hopes for conservation may lie in the unlikeliest of places -- a ramshackle shed perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Seahorse Ireland says its goal is to help save the species by cultivating seahorses born in captivity for the growing aquarium market.
"We want to make people aware that the captive-bred seahorse is a much better buy," said production manager Ken Maher, from the makeshift laboratory in Connemara, west Ireland.
"There's no deleterious effect on the environment and the seahorse will survive and flourish in your tank."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Seahorses are no ordinary sea creatures, notwithstanding their monogamy which is highly unusual for the animal kingdom. It is the male who receives eggs from his female partner and fertilizes them himself.
"The female swims up to her chosen male partner and the two change color as they dance around each other for hours in an elaborate courtship ritual," said Maher.
After receiving eggs from the female and fertilizing them himself, the male is pregnant for about three weeks before giving birth.
Captive-bred
The low-cost technology pioneered by Seahorse Ireland could be transferred to poorer parts of the world where seahorse stocks are fast becoming depleted.
Next year, a ban on international trade in seahorses, unless they are captive-bred or for scientific purposes, is due to come into operation, a move likely to cripple the livelihoods of thousands of dependent fishermen.
"Other conservation bodies try to say `this is a sanctuary, no fishing is allowed here,' and try to get locals to make arts and crafts instead," Maher said.
"But these people are fishermen who want to live near the sea. I know I could not switch to making arts and crafts if I was in their position."
If no alternative was provided, the trade would simply go underground, Maher said.
An estimated 40 million seahorses a year are taken from the wild for traditional Chinese medicine in which they are used as an aphrodisiac as well as a range of ailments including heart disease.
Demand has risen in recent years to such an extent that seahorses retail for about US$1,900 a kilogram in Asia, almost the price of gold.
A further one million are fished for the curio trade because seahorses retain their shape and color when dried.
The pet trade takes another one million, but very few survive beyond a few months or so without live food.
Frozen food
That's where Seahorse Ireland comes in -- it trains captive-born seahorses to get used to frozen food.
"Once we train them to take frozen food, they can be sent all over the world," said Maher.
Set up three years ago by Maher and his fellow marine biologist Kealan Doyle, Seahorse Ireland has two key advantages right on its doorstep.
First, the larger of the two seahorse species local to Ireland, the spiny seahorse, can be found in seagrass beds in and around nearby Kilkieran Bay.
In addition, the west coast of Ireland offers an abundance of zooplankton enriched by nutrients from the Gulf Stream, and the company has developed a system to extract and freeze this food.
Maher dismissed criticism from some environmentalists that breeding seahorses in captivity will serve only to boost demand, heaping more pressure on rapidly-declining stocks.
Capable of spawning 200 offspring at a go in the wild, with the right conditioning seahorses could breed closer to 1,000 juveniles, Maher said.
The company aims to sell seahorses for the pet market, retailing from 200 euros each, over the Internet, to be dispatched for next-day delivery.
"Seahorses travel quite well in tightly packed bags, with oxygen, just like goldfish," Maher said.
Sales are forecast at around 30,000 next year and around 70,000 the year after. Over time, Maher said there were plans to open a visitor center, using the seahorse as an icon for other endangered species.
"We will use it as a focus for conservation because it's not just the panda in China or the river dolphin in India that are in need of help," he said.
June 23 to June 29 After capturing the walled city of Hsinchu on June 22, 1895, the Japanese hoped to quickly push south and seize control of Taiwan’s entire west coast — but their advance was stalled for more than a month. Not only did local Hakka fighters continue to cause them headaches, resistance forces even attempted to retake the city three times. “We had planned to occupy Anping (Tainan) and Takao (Kaohsiung) as soon as possible, but ever since we took Hsinchu, nearby bandits proclaiming to be ‘righteous people’ (義民) have been destroying train tracks and electrical cables, and gathering in villages
Dr. Y. Tony Yang, Associate Dean of Health Policy and Population Science at George Washington University, argued last week in a piece for the Taipei Times about former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) leading a student delegation to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that, “The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world” (“Ma’s Visit, DPP’s Blind Spot,” June 18, page 8). Yang contends that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has a blind spot: “By treating any
Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week’s air drop was the latest in a controversial development — private contracting firms led by former US intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world’s deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts. The moves are roiling the global aid community, which warns of a more militarized, politicized and profit-seeking trend
The wide-screen spectacle of Formula One gets a gleaming, rip-roaring workout in Joseph Kosinski’s F1, a fine-tuned machine of a movie that, in its most riveting racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor. Kosinski, who last endeavored to put moviegoers in the seat of a fighter jet in Top Gun: Maverick, has moved to the open cockpits of Formula One with much the same affection, if not outright need, for speed. A lot of the same team is back. Jerry Bruckheimer produces. Ehren Kruger, a co-writer on Maverick, takes sole credit here. Hans Zimmer, a co-composer previously, supplies the thumping
RSS