Traffickers source marine species globally, co-opting local supply chains to harvest species for the international trade. When local suppliers and local markets become embedded in global supply chains, depletion occurs very quickly, particularly for unregulated species and in source locations with few controls.

Illegal harvest involves both individual local fishers and large commercial fishing vessels. In some cases illegal harvest is coordinated and intensive, such as in coral poaching, while in other instances, such as seahorse trafficking, species are consolidated over time and sold to traders.

• Individual collectors are often small-scale fishers engaged in harvesting to supply intermediaries and wholesalers. They may be witting or unwitting participants in the trafficking networks.
• Commercial fishing vessels, sometimes as part of large fleets, may opportunistically poach by keeping animals caught through bycatch for illegal sale. They may also be configured specifically to harvest protected species to traffic, such as Chinese and Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, Coral Sea and just off the exclusive economic zone of Japan.

For species popular in Asia, trafficking often follows a “roving bandit” pattern. Traffickers fan out across the globe to identify plentiful populations of wildlife, tap into local networks and begin trading species internationally. Harvest often follows a boom and bust cycle, where new populations are discovered leading to a boom before they are very quickly exploited. 

This pattern occurs time and again, from coral to sea cucumbers to giant clams.