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"We are on the hunt for some foreign poachers.".with the police in the Andaman Sea. These stunning islands stretch between Myanmar and Indonesia - and politically belong to India. "It's a crocodile!" I'm following an underreported story here: A smuggling operation worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Hundreds of people are said to be coming into these dangerous waters - and their unforgiving mangroves. "And there's one endangered sea creature at the center of it all: the sea cucumber."
We are spending a few days on the islands, walking over pokey rocks and across sandy beaches at low tide. Life abounds here in rock pools, cracks and crevices that the tide exposes twice a day. "It's a little sea slug!" It's here where you begin to find our protagonists, the sea cucumbers. They're actually fish whose habitat extends all the way out, across the coral reef, to the deepest trenches of the ocean. "Oh look what it is!" "He's blowing bubbles" But that's not its mouth - that's its anus. Yeah, that's how weird sea cucumbers are.
They don't have eyes, nor brains. Just a mouth for feeding and an anus, through which they breathe, can release eggs or sperm and poop. "Oh! There's another one here, and he looks completely different" There are around 1500 species of sea cucumbers globally. They don't look like much, but sea cucumbers are the most frequently trafficked marine species in India - and growing globally too. In Mexico, they are called "oro negro" or "black gold".
I met marine biologist Sangamesh Uday to talk about what these weirdos do all day. "So I'm going to say the obvious thing - it look like sh*t, no?" "So, it's like a fertilizer power plant. So every time it eats, it digests the dead material, it breaks them down, and poops out the sand. Without this, the whole ecosystem here would be just broken rocks." But, it's a thriving reef. This persistent eating-pooping cycle of sea cucumbers, crucially, also helps increase the pH levels around them. That stops the water from becoming too acidic,
which really matters for sea creatures to survive, which then impacts our food supply. "I'm going for a closer look, to see these guys in action." To be fair to the 'weird' cucumbers - they don't all look like floating turds. These are from around the world: Yes that's one. That's one too. They can be out of this world, and even cute as hell. But, to their detriment, they are also-apparently-delicious. They are a delicacy, a luxury product, especially in China and Southeast Asia, where they are used in soups, as pickled sides,
and in traditional medicine. There is some scientific evidence of the Omega-3 they contain as an antioxidant and against inflammation, but they're mainly popular because they're- well. -pretty phallic, and people think they're an aphrodisiac. Speaking of luxury, this sea cucumber can cost over $3500/kg. "This is now driving an illegal trade of over 200 species of sea cucumbers found in these waters. And that's why I'm here." There is, actually, almost no domestic Indian demand for sea cucumbers. Their demand comes from East- and Southeast Asia. As incomes there rose in the last few decades, sea cucumber populations around India started to drop. In 1982,
the Indian Environment Ministry began regulating the size of cucumber that could be exported. But dried or crushed down, it was hard to monitor. And it was extremely hard to regulate a massive and fragmented fishing industry that includes big companies as well as artisanal fisherfolk. So the government brought in a blanket ban in 2001 that completely forbids fishing them. "This creature has the highest level of protection in India, which means that killing a sea cucumber gets you the same punishment as killing a tiger or an elephant!" And there are indications that the ban has been effective and sea cucumbers
are doing well around India. Even though, globally, 70% of their fisheries are overexploited or depleted. This is tempting cucumber poachers in. Especially from neighboring Myanmar - a country in a state of civil war, whose economy is in a deep recession. I went out with officers of the Andaman and Nicobar police. Catching poachers is something the wildlife department handles in India, not the police. But this division is trained and tasked with this responsibility.
This is Assistant Sub-inspector Dhanabalan. "These are photos of poachers we caught around 15 days ago." "He's so small." "Yeah, there was a 17-year-old boy." This season, they have made around 50 arrests, mainly in the mangroves and creeks of the northern part of the island. "It's a crocodile!" It's a tough job. Croc sightings are on the rise. But equally dangerous is the islands' terrain. That's the canopy under which poachers hide.
Also, only 38 of the 572 islands here are inhabited. Some of these are home to ancient, protected tribes, and those are off-limits. "There is no land there, just mangroves." "Can we actually walk here? Isn't it really thick?" "Yes this is how we go. Climbing over this, and cross over." We're here following intelligence that there might be poacher movement. Excuse my lack of elegance as I navigate one of these islands.
"When we catch the dinghies of the poachers that come in, they build pits like this to survive in the jungle. You can find fresh water to drink two or three feet under the ground." "Do you think this is fresh?" "It looks older." Other evidence from cut branches and hideouts look old too. It's a rustic Sherlock Holmes-style investigation where many officers spend 20 or even 30 days a month combing these islands. "Look, here is a footprint." "Oh yes." "It's a fresh one but this isn't a Myanmarese poacher, it's from a local fisherman."
"How do you know?" "Because they spend so much time walking in the forest, poachers' feet tend to be wider. The toes spread out. Since we wear shoes, our feet are not spread out in the same way. That's how we identify whether it's a local's footprint or poacher's." When we found no fresh trace of poachers, I headed to meet the woman in charge of this district: Superintendent of police Shweta Sugathan. "Recently we had an operation 'Coral Shield' wherein 10 Myanmarese poachers were caught. We had almost 800 kilograms of sea cucumber that was seized from them.
We had an engine dinghy that was also seized. So its an ongoing activity." "So how big a problem is it?" "So, poaching, as far as Andaman Nicobar police is concerned, it is one among the main areas where the focus lies. Because, one thing, Andaman Nicobar Islands is very close to many neighboring countries, especially in the maritime domain. Second, it is very vulnerable in terms of the wildlife, the marine ecosystem that is involved. So all these factors combined, we find that there are so many elements who are trying to curb into the illegal. in the waters of the islands. So this is a main problem that Andaman and Nicobar police is facing."
The area we're in is contentious. This is the easternmost part of the Indian territory, which shares a water border with Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia. Arguably the biggest threat is Myanmar's Coco Island, just 55km to the north, where China has been funding military infrastructure. This tension might be another reason the Indian government is so keen on shutting down the illegal trade in sea cucumbers.
The Indian Home Ministry, watching closely, has ordered some poachers to be interrogated for their links to bigger criminal networks calling this 'a convergence among wildlife crime, cross-border smuggling and potential terror activities - a hybrid threat to national security. The dangers of smuggling are very real too. The Andaman Sea is a key maritime route for transporting meth and heroin produced in Myanmar to Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific. And drugs are washing up here. And this isn't the first region where sea cucumber crime has been linked to drugs and even cartels. There is credible evidence showing organized crime syndicates like the Yakuza in Japan or the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico are diversifying
their criminal portfolios to include these little creatures. Cartels enter every aspect of the supply chain - from extorting fishermen to the final trade. They can misreport the kind of fish or where it comes from. And they smuggle illegally-caught fish across borders as payments or barter with Chinese gangs. Back on the ground, I want to speak to one of these Myanmarese fishermen, who have been caught and imprisoned for up to seven years, to understand their side of the story.
"I'm at the Open Distress Camp where there are hundreds of poachers behind this wall, waiting for their release to go home. I tried for months to get an interview to meet one of them in person, which I didn't get, but I have been allowed to send one of them a questionnaire with questions that I really would like answers to." What I found in the meantime is that buyers from China or elsewhere approach fishing communities in Myanmar. They offer huge sums of money for sea cucumbers from across the southern border.
It's no small task. The obstacles against these poachers are incredibly large. They need to pass the Indian coast guard, navy, police, dodge local fishermen and crocodiles. They survive here on fish, freediving with hookah pipes for months. They must have enough ration and diesel to make it back, navigating the Myanmarese administration as well as Myanmarese pirates, waiting for their return, and the opportunity to steal their catch. Once they finish their assignments, the sea cucumbers change hands between middlemen on the Indian or Myanmarese mainland, and mostly go to Sri Lanka.
Sea cucumber fishing is legal in Sri Lanka, so these illegally-caught cucumbers can get "fish laundered". They are exported as legally-caught fish. Here's a crazy fact: Hong Kong imports 1.3 times the number of sea cucumbers that can be legally harvested globally. So, the rest must be coming in black. And it's the agents, middlemen, and high-ups in the organized syndicates that are making the money off this.
"So, I've heard back from a poacher who's currently housed in the detention center, who is waiting for his release. His name is Paing Soe. I asked him: "Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your childhood?" And he said: "I studied up to the 8th standard. Due to financial difficulties, I was compelled to discontinue my studies and began assisting my father in his carpentry work. In addition to this, I also engaged in fishing activities along with others to earn our livelihood and support my family."
"Why did you come to the Andaman Islands?" I asked him. He says: "I was earning a very low income in Myanmar. Consequently, I opted to engage in sea cucumber catching in the Andaman Sea. And it is approximately 10 times more profitable than fishing activities in Myanmar." "What about your family? How are they and what do they think about your situation?" He says: "I have an elderly mother, my wife, and a six-year-old male child. I am unaware of their present condition or state of mind, as I have not contacted them since arriving here."
I asked him: "What needs to be done so more people don't follow into this situation?" He said: "I hope young people have access to good jobs and support so they can earn a living." I asked him: "What are you looking forward to?" And he said "I wish to return to my home country." But even while these Myanmarese fishers are just the foot soldiers in a much more complicated and dark system, the Andaman island's administration cannot take it lying down. The police here is working with local fisherfolk to be their eyes and ears on the ground. They hold meetings to build relationships, train them on safety and talk about identifying foreign dinghies.
They need to alert the police when they see this. They are also integrating young islanders from the fishing communities into the police - some of whom have their ethnic origins in Myanmar. "The administration here is doing what it can to man the border but the number of poachers coming in and getting caught has been stable over the last few years. So this does feel like a band aid, and to find a solution to this problem, we need to look at the larger picture." And that's complicated. Because credible information is hard to come by, and the fight against sea cucumber smuggling is in its infancy. But other similar trades, like that of shark fins, have been slowed down
with more awareness about its cruelty and impact on the ecosystem, making it less socially acceptable. While policing and protecting wild sea cucumbers needs to continue, perhaps, like in Madagascar and the Sri Lanka, India could invest in opening up small areas where sea cucumber fishing is allowed. This could include community-based aquaculture, that is easier to regulate, and would also help local fishers benefit from the abundant resource. Legally cucumbers could be labelled, like sustainably-caught tuna and other fish are, so consumers can decide what they eat. And finally, countries need to co-operate on shutting down this ecologically destructive practice-
through coordinated legal frameworks, or training on how to identify and monitor the fish through the supply chain. "Being here has felt like witnessing the classic story of resource extraction and exploitation. Where the resource itself is exploited and the people that live around it don't actually benefit from that extraction. But who does benefit are people living in faraway cities and faraway countries that may not or don't know where that resource comes from or what is actually happening on the ground. If you've enjoyed being a part of this journey, I hope you come back for more videos from Planet A."
