China's craze for 'aquatic cocaine' is pushing two species into oblivion

Affluent Chinese are putting two Mexican species at risk due to demand for dried swim bladders. But will this year's Cites meeting on the wildlife trade force a crackdown?

Many would probably find the idea of consuming a fish's swim bladder unappetizing. More still would be unwilling to part with 2,000 for such a bladder, otherwise known as a maw. But China's demand for swim bladders from a giant Mexican fish - the totoaba - is not only putting it at risk, but also the world's smallest porpoise, the vaquita ("little cow" in Spanish). Today, there are less than a hundred vaquitas in the world, and no one knows how many totoaba are left. Given the dire state of these two species, conservationists hope that a meeting of the international convention on endangered species (Cites) in Geneva this week will take strong action.

"The vaquita's extinction clock stands at one minute to midnight and the species is being pushed into oblivion by the demand of a relatively small number of Chinese consumers of totoaba maw," said Clare Perry, the team leader of the Environmental Investigation Agency's (EIA) oceans campaign.