On 7 February, Mongabay reported that, between 2015 to 2020, authorities in Sri Lanka and India seized nearly 65 metric tons of sea cucumbers worth more than $2.8 million and arrested 502 people in connection with the attempted trafficking. Sea cucumber fishery is banned in India and restricted under a licensing system in Sri Lanka, but growing demand for the animals in East Asia has turned the waters between these South Asian countries into a hotspot for the illegal trade. The legal trade in Sri Lanka means Indian fishers can smuggle their catches into the country and launder them into the legal market for export – but from 21 species of sea cucumber deemed commercially viable for fishing in 2008, there were only 9 by 2015.
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