2012. Review of Significant Trade - Cites

Hippocampus kuda
Management Authority of France, 2011). French Polynesia was therefore not considered to
be part of the distribution range of H. kuda (S. Guillaume, in litt. to UNEP-WCMC, 2011).
Population trends and status: No information was located.
Threats: No information was located.
Trade: According to data in the CITES Trade Database, no trade from French Polynesia was
reported 2004-2010. French Polynesia is a dependent territory of France; all annual reports
2004-2010 have been received from France. Hippocampus spp. is not protected within French
Polynesia (Code de l'environnement de la Polynésie française).
Management: No information was located.
INDIA
Distribution in range State: H. kuda was reported to occur in the Gulf of Mannar
(Murugan et al., 2011), on the Coromandel Coast (Balasubramanian, 2002, cited in
Murugan et al., 2011) and in Palk Bay (Lipton and Thangaraj, 2002). The CITES Management
Authority of India confirmed that the species was found along the entire west coast of India
(A. K. Srivastava, in litt. to UNEP-WCMC, 2011).
Population trends and status: In the early 2000s, H. kuda was considered abundant along the
Palk Bay coast, where it accounted for 85.29 per cent of Hippocampus spp. by-catch (Lipton
and Thangaraj, 2002). In the Gulf of Mannar, H. kuda was reported to account for 21.19 per
cent of the Hippocampus spp. by-catch (Murugan et al., 2011). In the Coromandel Coast,
H. kuda made up 13 per cent of the Hippocampus by-catch (Balasubramanian, 2002, cited in
Murugan et al., 2011). H. kuda was reported to be one of the three Hippocampus species
dominating target catch by divers in the south-east coast of India (Salin et al., 2005).
The absence of data on abundances and distributions of Hippocampus spp. in India was
considered to limit the conservation and management of populations (Sreepada et al., 2002).
However Hippocampus spp. were believed to be declining in India, based on analysis of bycatch
(A. K. Srivastava, in litt. to UNEP-WCMC, 2011) and half of the 160 fishers surveyed in
India reported having observed decreases in Hippocampus spp. catches (A. Perry,
unpublished data, cited in Project Seahorse, 2003).
Threats: The CITES MA of India (A. K. Srivastava, in litt. to UNEP-WCMC, 2011) considered
Hippocampus spp. to be threatened by illegal trade, by-catch and habitat degradation. H. kuda
was considered to be among the most exploited Hippocampus species along the Palk Bay
coast (Lipton and Thangaraj, 2002). The majority of Hippocampus specimens were reported to
be caught as by-catch during shrimp trawling (Murugan et al., 2011). The Hippocampus spp.
of the southern Tamil Nadu coast [south west India] were considered to be under relatively
high fishing pressure (Salin et al., 2005).
Trade: According to data in the CITES Trade Database, no trade in H. kuda from India was
reported 2004-2010. Annual reports from India have been received for all years except 2010.
Fishing and trade in Hippocampus spp. was thought to have been restricted to the two
southern states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala (Vincent, 1996). In 1995, annual exports of dried
Hippocampus spp. from southern India were estimated at 3.6–6 tonnes (1.5-2.5 million
specimens) (Vincent, 1996). In the early 2000s, India was considered one of the largest
exporters of dried Hippocampus spp. and contributed to about 30 per cent of the trade
globally (Sreepada et al., 2002). In 2001, exports of dried specimens were estimated at
9.75 tonnes, although official statistics recorded only 4.34 tonnes, suggesting a high
proportion of undeclared trade (Salin et al., 2005). The domestic market was considered
negligible (Salin and Mohanakumaran, 2006).
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