P3.6-M seahorse shipment seized in Zamboanga port

THREATENED SPECIES A shipment of dried seahorses, said to be destined for the black market in Metro Manila, is held by Philippine Coast Guard personnel at the Zamboanga City port. Seahorses, considered as “near threatened” species by an international conservation group, are often used for traditional medicine and aquarium display. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Philippine Coast Guard on Wednesday seized a shipment of endangered seahorse worth P3.6 million at the port of Zamboanga.

Lt. Cmdr. Noriel Ramos, chief of the Coast Guard station here, said the seahorse, already dried and put in boxes, was found in a container van bound for Metro Manila.

After being tipped off about the shipment, Ramos said he alerted his personnel to put up a checkpoint at the main entrance of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) wharf here.

The personnel, aided by Coast Guard sniffer dogs, intercepted the van that contained 15 bundles of undocumented aquatic products identified as seahorse, locally known as “kaba-kabayo.”

The personnel were joined by representatives from the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and PPA.

The Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus) as “near threatened.”

It says seahorses, in general, are often used for “traditional medicines, aquarium display and curiosities.”

In Palawan province last month, a truckload of 21 frozen pangolins and 16 sea turtles believed destined for the black market was confiscated at a Department of Environment and Natural Resources checkpoint at the northern outskirts of Puerto Princesa City.

The pangolins were believed to be those found only in Palawan (Manis culionensis) and classified by the IUCN as endangered. —JULIE ALIPALA