A shop that sold seahorse snacks to visitors at the Pattaya floating market was forcibly closed after a post about the legality of their wares went viral on Facebook.
Yesterday, a Thai user snapped and posted a picture of the barbecued seahorses, being sold for THB150 (US$4.70) apiece, asking the community if selling seahorses for food was legal, as they’re perceived as threatened sea creatures, reported The Nation.
While seahorses are protected by CITES, an international treaty that countries voluntarily participate in to help protect animals that are considered vulnerable, and Thailand is a party to the convention, the agreement only prohibits the import and export of seahorses. Since seahorses are not protected under Thai law specifically, this makes grilling and selling them as food domestically legal, according to Umaporn Pimonbut, deputy director of Department of Fisheries, reported Thai PBS.
The thundering response from netizens was that, while this loophole might make it legal, it was unethical.
Local media reported that grilled seahorses are popular among Chinese tourists in the resort city, as in the mainland, eating seahorses are believed to increase sexual potency and also used as medicine to treat asthma and insomnia.
So today, in the wake of bad publicity, the market’s managing director, Manas Meepong, told the shop it had to close and revoked its license to sell, as he found the act “shocking” and “unacceptable.”
This afternoon, a sign was hung where the shop used to be informing visitors of closure.
