A hidden harvest

Indian criminal trade thrives re-exporting sea cucumber via Colombo

By GRID-Arendal

October 5^th, 2022

Originally published in The Sunday Times. This story was supported by GRID-Arendal's Investigative Environmental Journalism Grants programme. Learn more.

By Rubatheesan Sandranthan

In Mannar, the sea cucumber farms targeting the export market have become the new ‘success story’ in recent years, as long as one does not mind where the marine delicacy originates from, because it brings in foreign exchange.

Local fishermen who hold permits to harvest sea cucumbers in the wild leave for mid-sea by early morning in small groups to reach an agreed location through satellite coordinates only to wait for a boat from across the Palk Straits, while pretending to be engaging in diving.

Once they initiate contact, the sea cucumbers illegally harvested by Indian bottom trawlers and processed sea cucumber from South India would be transferred to other fishing boats to make it look like a fresh catch.

The currency for these transactions is often gold — either in the form of melted ‘biscuits’ or jewellery worn by fishermen, to avoid detection.

Once on shore, the catch is recorded as local harvest and immediately moved into a nearby warehouse for further processing and later transported to Colombo through agents for export. The illegal marine cargo would be declared as a Sri Lankan-origin export to South East Asian countries.

“The Indians are arbitrarily engaged in the harvest of sea cucumbers in our waters in addition to ongoing disastrous bottom trawling activities, then sell us back the same thing with some value addition,” the secretary of Mannar District Fishermen Federation Union, N.M. Aalam told the Sunday Times.

In 2001, India banned the harvest of all varieties of sea cucumber and declared it a protected species under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, whereas in Sri Lanka it is legal and harvesting can be done under a licensing system.

Weeks ago, a massive consignment of dried sea cucumbers and shark fin believed to have been smuggled into Sri Lanka was recovered by Indian police in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu. The street value, according to Indian reports, was 50 million Indian rupees.

Illegally harvested sea cucumbers in Sri Lankan and Indian waters are smuggled into the country and re-exported to South East Asian countries, where it is considered a delicacy and also used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The northern sea has become the smuggling hub not only for Kerala ganja and other illegal drugs, but also sea cucumbers, turmeric, pharmaceuticals, electronic items, and kerosene.

According to the progress report of the Ministry of Fisheries-2021, Sri Lanka exported 326 metric tonnes of sea cucumber worth Rs 1.5 billion in 2020. Exports are continuing to rise. Between January and September last year alone, 184.8 MT of sea cucumber consignments worth Rs 1.123 billion were exported.

Now the Fisheries Ministry is setting up new sea cucumber breeding hatcheries and joint ventures with foreign companies.

Last year, it was tasked with issuing 120 new export permits for sea cucumber and another 180 for transport, and by September, the Department of Fisheries had issued at least 46 and 79 permits respectively, according to the progress report.

Considering the great demand for exports, the ministry has identified around 5,000 acres of land with high potential for sea cucumber farming in shallow waters of Mannar, Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Kalpitiya. To increase exports and provide livelihood choices, sea cucumber export villages were started last year at Valeipadu and Iranativu in Kilinochchi as well.

Over 200 permits have been issued to local fishermen for sea cucumber harvesting under two categories of skin-diving, or scuba diving, for the wild harvest in Mannar. But regulations are not imposed and this has led to conflict within the fishing community as well.

According to regulations, skin-diving, known as free diving, can be carried out in shallow waters and scuba diving is allowed only 7.4 kilometres beyond the coast. Skin divers allege that scuba divers often violate regulations by operating in shallow waters for a better catch and to save fuel.

Mr G.S. Chandranayake, assistant director of fisheries (acting) in Mannar told the Sunday Times, the sea cucumber harvest in the region mainly depends on the weather patterns and salty conditions of the sea.

“There is a huge demand for dried sea cucumbers in the local export market, but local fishermen are not armed with adequate equipment to travel far away to harvest sea cucumbers,” he said.

Amid concerns of local fishing communities over reduced fish catch and access to shallow waters due to the setting up of more sea cucumber farms in recent years, the ministry is now assessing the present status of sea cucumber fisheries and the stocks of dominant species in Jaffna, Mannar, and Puttalam.

Mr A.M. Riyas Ahamed, senior lecturer of the department of biological sciences of the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka told the Sunday Times that over-exploitation of a single marine organism such as sea cucumbers will have a severe impact on the equilibrium of the marine ecosystem in the long run.

“When one organism is singled out for massive harvest at this scale, it will definitely have an impact on the food chain in marine resources as sea cucumber eggs and young larvae are prey for fish and other marine animals,” he explained.

The illegal cross-border trade in sea cucumbers from South India is one of several, often overlooked factors along with narcotics, electronic items and spare parts that continues to drive illegal fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers in Sri Lankan waters, according to Dr Steve Creech, a fisheries scientist who works with small-scale fishermen in the North of Sri Lanka.

According to Dr Creech, Tamil Nadu’s close proximity to northern Sri Lanka; India’s prohibition of harvesting and transporting of sea cucumber; Sri Lanka’s well-established sea cucumber export industry and the strong demand from importers are huge incentives for Tamil Nadu fishermen to illegally harvest, process and transport Indian sea cucumbers to Sri Lanka.

“The large fleet of Tamil Nadu trawlers that continues to invade Sri Lanka’s Territorial Sea then provides the perfect covert operation for the illegal cross-border trade in Indian sea cucumbers,” he said.

As the industry is booming through the re-export of smuggled sea cucumbers from India, the Fisheries Ministry is focused on increasing opportunities for aquaculture and setting up more similar farms. Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda said that he had been told of complaints by some exporters, but said the reports are being verified.

“Our current focus is on how to secure more investments and aquaculture technology from other countries to develop our fisheries industry to reach its full potential by setting up more sea cucumber hatcheries and breeding nurseries,” Mr Devananda said, while stressing that India, China and Vietnam have expressed interest.

About the author

Rubatheesan Sandranthan is a freelance journalist at the Sunday Times in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Over the years, he has reported extensively on post-war humanitarian issues, climate change, the environment, and Indo-Lanka fishing disputes. He was short-listed in 2019 and 2020 for a Young Journalist award, presented by the Thomson Foundation (UK) and the Foreign Correspondents Association. The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka recognized his work, naming him Investigative Journalist of the Year (merit) in 2019.