00:00 This massive 50 kilogram nile perch is a rare catch for these Ugandan fishers.
00:07 But it's not the fish meat that will make them the most money.
00:12 It's this balloon-like internal organ known as a fish maw or a swim bladder.
00:19 Dried fish maws can sell for up to $800 a pound.
00:24 But older maws like this one from a large slate cod croaker are valued as high as $4,000 for a single piece.
00:33 Fishers sell it to Chinese markets around the world where people eat it for its health benefits and supposed anti-ageing properties.
00:49 But the supply chain in China is facing a big problem.
00:53 Due to overfishing in Chinese waters, connoisseurs are now looking abroad to places like Uganda for fish maw.
01:01 The organ is so prized that smuggling and theft are rampant in the industry.
01:07 So why is fishing for maw worth the risk? And why is it so expensive?
01:13 Po Weng Hong Food Market in New York City's Chinatown has been selling fish maw ever since it first opened in 1980.
01:21 Today it specialises in rare dried seafood delicacies.
01:26 Sophia Sau runs this shop with her parents.
01:30 She says that these days fish maw is so rare that they have to buy it in bulk as soon as it becomes available.
01:37 Usually we request a certain size and certain type of fish maw because we know what sells the best.
01:43 And we usually maybe get 50% of what we request because the demand is so high.
01:49 Fish maw, or swim bladder, is an organ that enables fish to control their buoyancy.
01:55 Fish maw is traditionally considered one of the four treasures of Cantonese cuisine, along with shark fin, abalone and sea cucumber.
02:04 Zhao Xiong, who has worked for Po Weng Hong for 10 years, supervises the dried seafood department.
02:11 He's an expert on the four treasures.
02:14 The dried seafood is a type of fish maw.
02:17 The fish maw is usually yellowish in colour and translucent.
02:26 The longer it's aged, the thicker the fish maw becomes.
02:31 The fish maw contains a lot of protein and fiber.
02:35 It also contains a lot of microorganisms such as fungi and fungi.
02:42 The store orders all of its fish maw from a USDA-certified broker,
02:46 who works directly with traders and fishers in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.
02:53 Usually when we order fish maw, it's about 30 to 50 pounds per case.
02:58 And general prices are between 4,000 to 8,000 depending on the quality of the fish maw.
03:04 They resell it for anywhere from 200 to 800 dollars per pound, depending on the type and quality.
03:11 The Chinese bahaba, or large yellow croaker, was a main source of fish maw for decades.
03:17 But in 1989, the Chinese government designated it a Grade II state-protected species.
03:23 And in 2006, the International Union for Conservation of Nature also assessed the fish as critically endangered.
03:32 Today, the majority of fish maw is imported from other countries, including Uganda,
03:37 where fishing for an invasive species called Nile perch on Lake Victoria
03:41 has become a lucrative business for locals like Amber Francis.
03:46 It's early morning on Kisimawan Island in Jinja.
03:51 Amber is packing up his bait and hooks and preparing his boat to set out on Lake Victoria.
03:57 He's worked as a fisher here for the past 10 years.
04:06 He says Nile perch sold for much cheaper when he first started, before there was demand for the bladders.
04:13 The islands in the area around Jinja, like Kisimawan, are used as a base for the estimated 2,000 or so fishers in the area.
04:21 While Ugandans don't typically eat fish maw themselves, Amber has tried it and loves it.
04:28 Yeah, we used to eat it and we enjoyed it a lot.
04:32 Other people, sometimes back there, used to throw them away.
04:36 Not until they came to realise that it's tasty, it's good, that's when they started to consume it.
04:43 Amber says he can make around $4,000 a month selling fish maw to traders, depending on the size of his catch.
04:56 Each kilo, they can buy it at 25,000, only a kilo.
05:01 When I get that one which weighs like 10 kilograms, that's 250, which is a lot of money in Uganda.
05:09 But finding the biggest fish requires some special tricks and knowing where to look.
05:15 The weather right now is good for fishing, but in two to three hours, actually, the water will be rough.
05:21 He focuses on the deep water and he baits his hooks with a live young catfish, known locally as ensuma.
05:29 If the water is too cold, the ensuma can die instantly and Nile perch won't go after dead fish.
05:40 Each hook is demarcated with a bottle so he knows which lines belong to him.
05:45 Because these fish are so valuable, theft is also an issue on the lake.
05:50 Unfortunately, you go there, you find nothing, when everything was taken by those thieves.
05:56 Once he's baited his lines, he leaves them in the water and returns to the island to rest until evening.
06:02 Now we are going to rest for some time, like three to four hours,
06:08 after we come back and check our hooks, what we have put there, to see whether there's Nile perch on it.
06:16 Amber says he typically catches six or seven fish per day, usually all weighing under 20 kilograms.
06:24 The biggest one he has ever caught was a massive 98 kilograms.
06:29 I feel good when it pulls me. Yeah, that's what I enjoy, it's like a game to me.
06:35 Today he caught only six fish, but the biggest one was about 30 kilograms.
06:44 I expected to get more than this. Yeah, actually it's a bad day to me.
06:52 The fishers don't remove the bladders themselves.
06:57 Tomorrow, Amber will sell his fish directly to the trader, who hired him at the local market in Masese.
07:11 Amber's boss is Hakim Magumba, who has been working in the fishing industry for about 23 years.
07:18 He previously traded tilapia to buyers in Kenya, but he now works with Nile perch because it's much more profitable.
07:25 I fish because I need fish more. Because fish more is like gold for my side, you understand.
07:33 We used to throw it back, we used to throw the bladder, because it was no sense.
07:39 We wanted that meat, but nowadays, money.
07:45 Hakim says he has 22 boats and 30 fishers like Amber working for him.
07:51 Once they deliver the fish to him, they are weighed, sorted and priced based on their size.
07:58 This fish weighs 12 kilos. After weighing, we are going to cut it and see the bladder which is in it.
08:09 The bladders must be removed and cleaned by hand.
08:12 We sell it at the 500,000 Ugandan shillings.
08:17 The rest of the fish doesn't go to waste.
08:21 Hakim sells it to the locals in Uganda, where it's a popular delicacy.
08:26 The moor will eventually make its way to Chinese exporters who dry it and ship it to Hong Kong and other locations worldwide.
08:35 Hakim is just one of many traders in the area trying to make a living in fish moor with competitors all around him.
08:41 We have people from Kenya, people from TZ, their own competitors. Very many.
08:52 Aside from the competition, Hakim says one of the biggest challenges the fishers in Uganda face is run-ins with local authorities.
09:01 The guys who are in business of fish moor, they don't have the licence.
09:06 So when you don't have licence, you are caught with the soldiers.
09:10 Crime is also an issue on land, according to Hakim.
09:15 He says some of his colleagues have been robbed while transporting their goods to Chinese buyers.
09:21 Safety is too much. Too much. Mostly on the loads when you're taking it to the Chinese.
09:29 And getting into the industry is costly.
09:31 Not everyone can afford the initial investment of equipment, which includes a government-licensed boat, an engine, plus regulation hooks and bait.
09:41 Yeah, actually it requires a lot of capital to deal in fishing in Alpach.
09:50 Like me as a fisherman, just one boat I require like 15 million shillings.
09:56 And fishing has already been detrimental to many fish species around the world.
10:00 A large croaker in Mexico's Gulf of California called the totoaba is now in danger of extinction due to the fish moor trade.
10:08 But this fish, often dubbed the cocaine of the sea, is still illegally trafficked into China.
10:15 In April 2023, US Customs seized $2.7 million worth of totoaba fish moor hidden in a shipment of frozen fish fillets in Arizona.
10:26 Even so, demand for fish moor is not slowing down.
10:31 On a weekday morning at Po Wing Hong, the aisles are as busy as ever, with customers scouring the shelves for dried seafood products as soon as they open.
10:42 While fish moor is more popular among the older generations, Sophia says younger people have started incorporating it into their diets as well.
10:50 I feel that nowadays a lot of younger people are eating fish moor because it reminds them of dishes that they had in the past and it's a little bit of nostalgia.
10:59 Also they want to embrace their culture and relearn the dishes that are really traditional.
11:07 With that rare $4,000 fish moor they have on hand, it's so special to Po Wing Hong that it's not even for sale.
11:13 We keep it just as a keepsake. We just have it as part of our collection.
11:18 [Music]
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