NOGALES, AZ — Authorities seized more than 240 pounds of illegal fish bladders at the Port of Nogales in southern Arizona.
In April, U.S. Customs Border and Protection (CBP) officers working at the Mariposa trade facility discovered 270 swim bladders of the endangered totoaba fish.
The bladders were reportedly concealed within a commercial shipment of frozen fish fillets. The CPB officers contacted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) who took possession of the bladders.
In total, there were 242 pounds of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and Endangered Species Act-protected totoaba swim bladders.
It has an estimated value of $2.7 million, officials announced.
CBP says preliminary DNA testing by USFWS indicates the bladders are the endangered species totoaba macdonaldi, belonging to the Gulf of California in Mexico.
This seizure is believed to be the second-largest of its kind in the U.S. and the largest totoaba seizure in Arizona.
Totoaba fish are on the endangered species list under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 1979. The swim bladders of this fish and other similar species around the world are prized in Traditional Chinese Medicine and as a delicacy in some Asian cultures.
Totoaba fish are federally protected in the U.S. and Mexico and therefore it's illegal to take, possess, transport, or sell them.
Additionally, the gill-net fishing methods used to catch them have resulted in the co-demise of another endangered species in the Gulf of California, the Vaquita porpoise.
USFWS and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the smuggling attempt.
