BajaNomad - Totoaba Smuggler Convicted

Totoaba Smuggler Convicted

bajaguy - 8-12-2014 at 06:13 PM

From the LA Times
8-12-2014

A 75-year-old Calexico man was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison after being convicted of smuggling 241 fish bladders into the U.S. to sell on the lucrative black market.

Song Shen Zhen was arrested in April 2013 after authorities at the border crossing in Imperial Valley found 27 fish bladders hidden in his car and an additional 214 at his nearby home.

The bladders were from the endangered Totoaba fish, which is protected by environmental laws in the U.S. and Mexico. The fish is native only to the Gulf of California.

The Totoaba fish bladders are prized in Asia and the U.S. as ingredients for soup, as well as for supposed medicinal and cosmetic purposes. An individual bladder can bring up to $5,000 in the U.S., according to court documents.

At Zhen's home, authorities found drying fans and packaging materials that could be used to ship the bladders overseas, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff also ordered Zhen to pay $120,500 in restitution to the Mexican environmental protection agency.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fish-bladders-sm...

55steve - 8-12-2014 at 06:32 PM

Excellent news!

MMc - 8-12-2014 at 06:48 PM

One year seems light. One year is better then less then one year!

bajacalifornian - 8-12-2014 at 07:00 PM

Agreed 55steve. Dismal, but excellent news!

redhilltown - 8-12-2014 at 11:26 PM

I guess it is up to U.S. (us) to enforce this... but great news

bajalearner - 8-13-2014 at 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MMc
One year seems light. One year is better then less then one year!

A year in prison is a long time in my mind. And a hundred twenty grand is allot of money for me.

I think the jail time is about right for a non violent crime but the fine payable to MX should be maybe 20 grand. And another fine of 24 grand paid to the US to pay for the cost locking him up for a year. Two grand a month seems about right.

Howard - 8-13-2014 at 07:35 AM

The average cost in California for an inmate was $47,421 in 2012. The way I see it, that is the amount plus all associated court costs, that he should have to pay back.

I do suppose taking out HIS bladder would be a little to harsh. :biggrin:

bajalearner - 8-13-2014 at 10:39 AM

I don't know if he is guilty of a federal crime or a CA crime but either way, the cost of locking him up is ridicules. The CA cost is too high so I thought two grand a month is a good amount. Why pass the ridiculous cost on to a person when it's the government wasting money? But should he be locked up at all?

Another thing in my mind is that this guy is Asian and from a culture that accepts the taking of fish parts for stupid uses. So should a stupid person be locked up for years? Or should a stupid person be fined so it really hurts his living situation but also keeps him working and sends money to a good use? I think he should only be fined about a 6 months income, say 25 grand even if he has to make payments for many years.

75 years old.

akshadow - 8-13-2014 at 10:40 AM

A one year jail term is a large percentage of his remaining life. But fines also need to be high enough to confiscate all possible.

woody with a view - 8-13-2014 at 11:52 AM

I think you can spend a year in county jail(s) after sentencing. any longer and you go upstream to the big house. his lawyer prolly tried to keep him local to his family as opposed to whatever big house the state would sentence him to. assuming it's his 1st conviction, sounds about right!

btw, if he dies tomorrow does the state have a lien on his chopsticks for the rest of the money?

and of course, a cartel connection!

willardguy - 8-13-2014 at 12:05 PM

First it was moving marijuana and cocaine across the border. Then, it was human smuggling. Now, it appears Mexico’s drug cartels are getting involved in the lucrative – and slightly peculiar – business of trafficking the bladders of exotic fish to Asia.

News of this fishy business began surfacing in June following the murder of Samuel Gallardo Castro, alias "El Samy," – the leader of a Mexican organized crime group in the Sonoran town of El Golfo de Santa Clara. A man confessed to local authorities that he killed the drug boss because Gallardo owed him $1 million for a shipment of bladders from the totoaba fish.

The man was released because authorities doubted his “mental faculties,” but his statement was not the first time the murky business of the underground fish bladder trade has made headlines in Mexico.

The totoaba’s large swim bladder, which controls its buoyancy, is a delicacy in China, where it’s placed in soup and can cost as much as $25,000 a bowl. An investigation by the online news site Mexicali Digital revealed that the bladders can fetch anywhere from $7,000 to $14,000 a piece in the black market. The totoaba bladders are normally taken from the Gulf of California and shipped to the United States before making their way across the Pacific Ocean to various Asian ports.

The totoaba is related to the drum fish and can grow up to seven feet in length, weigh 200 pounds and live for around 25 years. Tototaba are listed as an endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 1979 and, because the species is federally protected in both the U.S. and Mexico, it is illegal to take, possess, transport or sell Totoaba.

Besides the U.S. classification, the fish has been labelled an endangered species by a number of groups due to both poaching for its bladder and also the diversion of water from the Colorado River within the United States – where they spawn – which has left little or no fresh water to reach the delta and greatly altered the environment in the delta and the salinity of the upper Sea of Cortez.

Mexican authorities in 2013 dismantled a group of smugglers trafficking totoaba in the Sea of Cortez, seizing parts of the fish worth between $35,000 and $60,000 and arresting four people. Last April, U.S. federal authorities filed criminal charges against seven individuals for their role in plundering and smuggling Totoaba bladders.

"Many species, including the Totoaba, are teetering on the brink of extinction due to poaching to supply the illegal wildlife trade. While we may never know how many Totoaba bladders were harvested illegally, such disregard for the protections that were put in place to benefit this endangered species could have a disastrous effect on the fish population,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Deputy Chief Edward Grace said in a press release.

Marine life poaching has become a major issue throughout Latin America with the security website InSight Crime reporting instances of shark fin poachers working in Costa Rica, dolphins illegally slaughtered in Peru, and, besides the fish bladders, sea horses and sea cucumbers are also hunted in Mexico.

woody with a view - 8-13-2014 at 02:07 PM

how much do you wanna bet that they just chop up an old smelly cat fish bladders and put it in those soups?

$25000 per bowl? :lol:

bajabuddha - 8-13-2014 at 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Howard
I do suppose taking out HIS bladder would be a little to harsh. :biggrin:

How about just a few inches below it? :smug:

Howard - 8-13-2014 at 02:36 PM

It would give the next poacher something to think about.

Tomas Tierra - 8-16-2014 at 10:54 AM

The white sea bass has the same or very similar bladder... Smaller, yes. But very viable for the "soup"
WSB are being harvested like mad! Nobody cares about the swim bladder? Always been curious about this

I would love to one day see a totuaba... I guess it starts with going to the gulfside... Maybe someday

monoloco - 8-16-2014 at 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajalearner
I don't know if he is guilty of a federal crime or a CA crime but either way, the cost of locking him up is ridicules. The CA cost is too high so I thought two grand a month is a good amount. Why pass the ridiculous cost on to a person when it's the government wasting money? But should he be locked up at all?

Another thing in my mind is that this guy is Asian and from a culture that accepts the taking of fish parts for stupid uses. So should a stupid person be locked up for years? Or should a stupid person be fined so it really hurts his living situation but also keeps him working and sends money to a good use? I think he should only be fined about a 6 months income, say 25 grand even if he has to make payments for many years.

They would save a lot if they just put an ankle bracelet on the low level offenders and checked them into cheap motels with no cable TV and had fast food delivered to them. That might be considered cruel and unusual punishment though.

weebray - 8-16-2014 at 01:12 PM

Meanwhile, Totoava is on the menu at at least one restaurant here in La Paz and it's not 25 grand a plate.

beachbum1A - 8-17-2014 at 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by weebray
Meanwhile, Totoava is on the menu at at least one restaurant here in La Paz and it's not 25 grand a plate.

ARE YOU SERIOUS!?

durrelllrobert - 8-17-2014 at 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by akshadow
A one year jail term is a large percentage of his remaining life. But fines also need to be high enough to confiscate all possible.

$120,000 fine is exactly 10x the market value of the 240 bladders he had in his possession.

durrelllrobert - 8-17-2014 at 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by monoloco

Quote:

Even putting them on a cruise ship for a year would be less costly then prison.

willardguy - 8-17-2014 at 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tomas Tierra
The white sea bass has the same or very similar bladder... Smaller, yes. But very viable for the "soup"
WSB are being harvested like mad! Nobody cares about the swim bladder? Always been curious about this

I would love to one day see a totuaba... I guess it starts with going to the gulfside... Maybe someday

thats a really good question! with WSB dwarfing the average size totoaba these days, they're bladders identical, somebody must be raking in some dough. you're in oxnard, next time you see Kenny on the "mochi" ask him!

btw, I see totoaba in the TJ fish market all the time, labeled WSB of course

Tomas Tierra - 8-17-2014 at 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by willardguy

Quote:

How can you tell the difference in the flesh? Or are you seeing whole fish?

Ken on the Mochi? Hahaha, yeah he catches!

willardguy - 8-17-2014 at 08:47 PM

whole fish! the tail gives it away.

Tomas Tierra - 8-18-2014 at 01:28 PM

And how big(or small) were they? And was the tail the only giveaway? Or just the most obvious?

Skipjack Joe - 8-18-2014 at 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MMc
One year seems light. One year is better then less then one year!

They should remove his bladder.

Tomas Tierra - 8-18-2014 at 03:00 PM

Or at least string him up in a net and let the seals get at him

weebray - 8-18-2014 at 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by beachbum1A

Quote:

Originally posted by weebray
Meanwhile, Totoava is on the menu at at least one restaurant here in La Paz and it's not 25 grand a plate.

ARE YOU SERIOUS!?

I'm not kidding. It's on the menu at Apastolis Greek/Italian restaurant on Madero. Very mild flavor and soft like butterfish or buffalofish. It's not really all that great. Other than it's size and the fact that it's bladder gives you a 4 hr. erection I can't see the attraction.

willardguy - 8-18-2014 at 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tomas Tierra
And how big(or small) were they? And was the tail the only giveaway? Or just the most obvious?

they have a small hump ahead of the dorsal that WSB don't but the giveaway is the totoaba tail is convex where the WSB is concave.
so yeah, with a pair of scissors you could turn a totoaba into a WSB pretty easily! :lol: