1. All seahorse species (genus Hippocampus) are listed under Schedule I of India's Wild Life Protection Act, making all capture and trade of seahorses illegal. In the more than 15 years since the ban, little work has been done to assess its effects on seahorse conservation.
2. Between 2015 and 2017, fisheries and trade surveys were conducted along the south‐east coast of India, in the state of Tamil Nadu, historically known to be a hub for seahorse catches and trade.
3. Seahorses were primarily landed as bycatch, although in greater quantities by traditional drag nets than as trawl bycatch. Total annual catches were estimated between 4.98 million and 13.64 million seahorses, 87% of which were caught by active non‐selective gear.
4. Generalized additive models revealed that seahorse catch per unit effort had non‐linear relations with depth and latitude, and were higher in biogenic habitats, with active, bottom‐used, and non‐selective gears (e.g. trawls).
5. The illegal nature of the trade in seahorses hampered an understanding of trade routes and trade volumes. Catch estimates indicated that 11.21–30.31 tonnes of seahorses probably entered trade, yet interviews with traders only documented trade of about 1.6 tonnes.
6. Fishers reported a decreasing availability of seahorses. Since most seahorses come from bycatch in persistent fisheries that are not directly affected by the ban on seahorse capture, this decline is likely to represent a population decline.
7. A fishery and trade ban for incidentally caught species, particularly in a poorly regulated fishery, appears to add little conservation value. There needs to be a shift in the management approach, moving from a ban towards spatial and temporal restrictions, and toward enforcing existing fishery regulations.

中文翻译：

---

非选择性渔业可以取消对海马的捕捞和贸易禁令

1. 所有海马物种（海马属）都列在印度的《野生动物保护法》附表I之下，这使所有捕捞和贸易海马均属非法。自禁令以来的15多年来，几乎没有开展任何工作来评估其对海马养护的影响。
2. 在2015年至2017年期间，在印度东南沿海泰米尔纳德邦（Tamil Nadu）进行了渔业和贸易调查，该地区历史上被称为海马捕捞和贸易中心。
3. 海马最初主要是作为兼捕而着陆，尽管传统拖网捕捞的海马数量要多于拖网兼捕。估计年度总捕捞量在498万至1364万海马之间，其中87％是由活跃的非选择性渔具捕获的。
4. 广义加性模型表明，单位活动量的海马捕捞量与深度和纬度呈非线性关系，在生物生境中较高，具有活动，底部使用和非选择性渔具（例如拖网渔具）。
5. 海马贸易的非法性质妨碍了对贸易路线和贸易量的了解。渔获量估计表明，可能有11.21–30.31吨海马进入贸易，但与贸易商的访谈仅记录了约1.6吨的贸易。
6. 渔民报告说，海马数量减少。由于大多数海马来自持久捕捞中的兼捕，不受渔业捕捞禁令的直接影响，因此这种下降很可能表示人口下降。
7. 一项针对偶然捕获的物种的渔业和贸易禁令，特别是在管理不善的渔业中，似乎没有什么保护价值。管理方法需要发生变化，从禁令转向时空限制，再到执行现有渔业法规。