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Emre Caylak is a journalist based in İstanbul, Turkey.
In the Gulf of Mexico, fishermen hunt the Totoaba, a strictly protected fish species whose swim bladder in China is worth more than its weight in gold. There, the bubbles are considered a remedy, status symbol and investment, because the more the Totoaba stocks are decimated, the more expensive they become. For the cartels on both sides of the Pacific, the illegal swim bladder trade means higher profits - and much lower risks than drug trafficking.