Numerous uncertainties in the multifaceted global trade in frogs’ legs with the EU as the major consumer

Abstract

The commercial trade in frogs and their body parts is global, dynamic and occurs in extremely large volumes (in the thousands of tonnes/yr or billions of frogs/yr). The European Union (EU) remains the single largest importer of frogs’ legs, with most frogs still caught from the wild. Amongst the many drivers of species extinction or population decline (e.g. due to habitat loss, climate change, disease etc.), overexploitation is becoming increasingly more prominent. Due to global declines and extinctions, new attention is being focused on these markets, in part to try to ensure sustainability. While the trade is plagued by daunting realities of data deficiency and uncertainty and the conflicts of commercial interests associated with these data, it is clear is that EU countries are most responsible for the largest portion of the international trade in frogs’ legs of wild species. Over decades of exploitation, the EU imports have contributed to a decline in wild frog populations in an increasing number of supplying countries, such as India and Bangladesh, as well as Indonesia, Turkey and Albania more recently. However, there have been no concerted attempts by the EU and present export countries to ensure sustainability of this trade. Further work is needed to validate species identities, secure data on wild frog populations, establish reasonable monitored harvest/export quotas and disease surveillance and ensure data integrity, quality and security standards for frog farms. Herein, we call upon those countries and their representative governments to assume responsibility for the sustainability of the trade. The EU should take immediate action to channel all imports through a single centralised database and list sensitive species in the Annexes of the EU Wildlife Trade Regulation. Further, listing in CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) can enforce international trade restrictions. More joint efforts are needed to improve regional monitoring schemes before the commercial trade causes irreversible extinctions of populations and species of frogs.

Piecing the barcoding puzzle of Palearctic water frogs (Pelophylax) sheds light on amphibian biogeography and global invasions

“…Tracing most introductions back to these two regions is remarkably coherent with the trading record of the frog leg industry (Altherr et al, 2022;Auliya et al, 2023;Holsbeek et al, 2008). Frog legs are now being mostly imported frozen from outside Europe (notably Asia), but Albania and Turkey remain the two biggest suppliers of Pelophylax frogs for the European market (notably Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy), where they are typically caught from wild populations (Auliya et al, 2023) and imported alive to be transformed locally (Neveu, 2004). The annual Turkish exports amount 14-35 million individuals, and more than a third of captures originate from Adana Province (Çiçek et al, 2020), which is the region of Cilicia inhabited by the narrowly distributed but widely introduced cf.…”

“…Most exotic lineages found in Western Europe naturally inhabit the Balkans and Anatolia, two hotspots of phylogeographic diversity for the genus (Akın et al, 2010;Papežík et al, 2023). Tracing most introductions back to these two regions is remarkably coherent with the trading record of the frog leg industry (Altherr et al, 2022;Auliya et al, 2023;Holsbeek et al, 2008). Frog legs are now being mostly imported frozen from outside Europe (notably Asia), but Albania and Turkey remain the two biggest suppliers of Pelophylax frogs for the European market (notably Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy), where they are typically caught from wild populations (Auliya et al, 2023) and imported alive to be transformed locally (Neveu, 2004).…”

Functional and temporal facets of predation by marsh frogs across the aquatic–terrestrial ecotone of ponds and implications in the context of biological invasions

“…Our main objective was to describe the realised trophic niche of a biphasic predator, the marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus), through multiple dimensions that include taxonomic, functional, and habitat components of consumed prey. This taxon and related Pelophylax species have typically been imported from south-eastern Europe and Anatolia as ornamental species for garden ponds, for educational purposes, and as part of the food market industry (leg consumption; Auliya et al, 2023;. This has resulted 5.…”

“…Our main objective was to describe the realised trophic niche of a biphasic predator, the marsh frog ( Pelophylax ridibundus ), through multiple dimensions that include taxonomic, functional, and habitat components of consumed prey. This taxon and related Pelophylax species have typically been imported from south‐eastern Europe and Anatolia as ornamental species for garden ponds, for educational purposes, and as part of the food market industry (leg consumption; Auliya et al, 2023; Holsbeek et al, 2010). This has resulted in multiple introductions into the wild, followed by recent wide‐scale invasions over several countries, including France (Dufresnes, Denoël, et al, 2017; Dufresnes, Di Santo, et al, 2017; Pagano et al, 2001), Belgium (Holsbeek et al, 2010), Switzerland (Dufresnes et al, 2018), and Italy (Bellati et al, 2023; Bruni et al, 2020; Ficetola & Scali, 2010) where marsh frogs have historically been absent.…”

Serotypes, Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles, and Virulence Factors of Salmonella Isolates in Chinese Edible Frogs (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus) Collected from Wet Markets in Hong Kong

“…The Chinese edible bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus) is a large, amphibian species, mainly found in Asian countries, such as Cambodia, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam [15]. H. rugulosus is widely farmed or harvested in the wild in several Asian countries, and is sold for human consumption in the markets of these countries, or is traded internationally as frogs' legs, in large numbers [16]. Between 2010 and 2019, the EU imported an estimated 40,700 tonnes of frogs' legs, corresponding to about 814-2000 million individual frogs, with a large amount of these animals imported from Asia [15,17].…”