SEA CUCUMBER - ENVIRONMENT
News: 105
kilograms of sea cucumber worth ₹47.25 lakh seized in
Ramanathapuram
What's in the news?
● Sea
Cucumbers worth Rs. 47.25 lakh seized by Indian Coast Guard Mandapam station in
Ramanathapuram district.
Key takeaways:
● Sea
cucumbers play an important role in
maintaining biodiversity in the marine ecosystem and are listed as
endangered species under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
Sea Cucumber:
● Sea
cucumbers are marine invertebrates
that live on the seafloor found generally in tropical regions.
● They're
named for their unusual oblong shape that resembles a fat cucumber.
● They
are found in both tropical and temperate
oceans, where they inhabit the intertidal zone as well as deeper water.
Range:
● In
India, other than the sea around Lakshadweep islands and Andaman & Nicobar
islands, the Gulf of Mannar at the confluence of the Indian Ocean and Bay of
Bengal in Tamil Nadu is also home to sea cucumbers.
Role in ecosystem:
● Role in Coral Reef
preservation: One of the by-products of the sea
cucumber's digestion of sand is calcium carbonate, a key component of coral
reef.
● They
act like garbage collectors of the ocean
world, and they recycle nutrients, thus playing an important role in
keeping coral reefs in good condition.
Threats:
● This
endangered species is in high demand in China and Southeast Asia, where they are
consumed as food and used in medicine.
● Contain
high levels of a chemical called fucosylated
glycosaminoglycan in their skin, which people across Asia have been using
to treat joint problems like arthritis for centuries.
Conservation:
● Wildlife Protection Act:
Protected under Schedule I under the
Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972 so their trade is banned.
● IUCN Red list:
Brown Sea Cucumber (Endangered), Blackspotted Sea Cucumber (Least Concern),
Blue Sea Cucumber (Data Deficient), etc.
● Conservation Reserve:
In 2020, Lakshadweep administration
had declared the country's first sea cucumber conservation reserve.
● Government Ban:
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change imposed a total ban on harvesting and transporting
sea cucumbers in 2001.