1 This is a super rare sawfish. It’s been around since the dinosaurs.
But it’s now almost extinct in its native waters of Peru. And its
decline is linked to this Peruvian tradition: Cockfighting. Because of
this, a cockfighting spur. In Peru, cockfighting is not only legal, It’s
protected as cultural heritage. Here in Peru, on the coast, in the
mountains and the forests, there is no traditional town celebration that
does not end with a cockfight. We don’t see it so much as a sport, but
rather as a cultural expression. Introduced during Spanish colonial
times, the sport is now practiced across the country in thousands of
arenas… With victorious roosters earning up to $2,000 after a fight and
with… between 300,000 and 500,000 breeders. In the cockfighting world,
there are two main types of fights. Blade fights and spur fights. In
spur fights, blades, synthetic or natural are attached to the rooster’s
feet. For decades, these spurs were made from natural materials like
turtle shells and sawfish “teeth.” In the 1970s, sawfish spurs became
prized for their strength and sharpness. Sawfish teeth could be worked
in such a way that they became extremely thin and durable with sections
that would not break. Artisans who sold the teeth sold it expensively.
By the early 2000s, some leagues began banning animal-based spurs in
favor of plastic ones as the former were too destructive. But with an
industry of this size, enforcement remains difficult. Once abundant
across tropical oceans and rivers worldwide, the largetooth sawfish is
now critically endangered due to overfishing, bycatch and habitat loss.
It’s named for its long, toothed snout, called a rostrum, that can
measure up to 2.5 meters. Sawfish use their rostrum to hunt prey. It
moves horizontally and stuns its prey before eating it. And those
“teeth” aren’t actually teeth, they’re hardened, modified scales. This
apex predator is now so rare and understudied along South America’s
coasts that almost nothing is known about it In the waters of Peru, we
don’t know how many remain. Selling sawfish and their parts is banned
under international law. In 2020, Peru banned the capture and trade of
sawfish nationwide. Yet illegal spurs continue to circulate through
informal markets. You can still find sawfish spurs for sale online. The
first thing I did was search on Google and the first thing that came up
were a lot of pages on the Internet, especially on FB Market, selling
sawfish teeth from Chiclayo to Piura destined to be used as spurs for
cockfighting. Though not the main cause for the sawfish’s decline, the
illegal trade in the rostral teeth has an impact on an already ailing
population. I had never, never, never seen a sawfish in my life. Only in
books. Six miles from port, we saw something white floating. When we got
closer, we saw that it was of approximately 300 kilograms and had long
rostrum with many teeth. This was one of the first recorded sightings in
Peru in decades. When we got to the dock, everyone came to see the
sawfish. We kept the rostrum. Cockfighters started offering money. “I
give you 5,000 soles [USD1,500], 6,000 soles [USD1,800].” My
father-in-law wanted to keep it as a relic. But about six months later,
his boat broke down. My father-in-law had no other choice but to sell it
to buy engine parts. On the black market, once spur can sell up for
USD250. And a single sawfish can yield dozens of teeth, each of which
can be carved into multiple spurs. We’re coastal fishers. To earn that
amount, I’d have to work six, maybe eight months to make that quantity
of 8,500 soles. Dwindling catches for Peruvian fishers in recent years
have undermined the progress made toward protecting sawfish. Fishing has
declined irreparably. Before, we used to catch 500 kilos, 400 kilograms,
a day. Now we catch 2 or 3 kilograms. There has been overfishing. One
way to save sawfish, then, lies in reducing the demand for it. The
cockfighting industry has proposed a potential solution: using synthetic
spurs instead. We began promoting through flyers, publications and
videos the banning of sawfish teeth and hawksbill turtle shells. What is
used today is a plastic spur made from a polymer. This is the spur. We
also use a spur made of fiberglass, commonly known as mandinga. A
plastic spur costs roughly USD5. Artisans who once shaped sawfish teeth
are also offered a lifeline. We told them, “Friend, you sell sawfish
spines. Stop selling them. Here’s the option to distribute the plastic
ones instead.” Or if you are an artisan and the plastic ones are
imported spurs, instead of making sawfish spurs, make mandinga. We even
connected them with foreign manufacturers so they could act as
distributors. The spurs were provided on consignment. And in the
meantime, researchers like Alejandra aren’t giving up. We need to save
every sawfish we can. That means working closely with fishers where we
know sawfish are present. And if they are caught, they release them and
collect important information. Fishers spend more time at sea than
anyone in government or research. That knowledge is essential. I hope my
grandkids can see a sawfish in the sea, something I did at 50 years old.
I would love for my grandkids to one day say: “My grandfather once saw
it, and I see them today.”