Coast Guard apprehends Thai trawler with 2,000 kg Sea Cucumber

Port Blair, May 25 (UNI) An Indian Coast Gaurd (ICG) ship has apprehended a Thai trawler carrying 31 Thai poachers along with 2.000 kgs of illegally extracted Sea Cucumber from the Andaman Sea.

A senior Coast Gaurd officer today said the ICG ship 'Bhikhaiji Cama' apprehended the vessel at sea and brought it here yesterday.

It has been handed over to the Andaman and Nicobar Police for legal action as per the MZI Act (1981) as well as under the Wild Life Protection Act (1972) as sea cucumber is a protected species, Deputy Commandant of ICG of Andaman and Nicobar Circle S Rajan informed newspersons here.

The Sea Cucumber, a marine animal shaped like a cucumber and having a spiked body, lives on the ocean floor and is valued for its medicinal properties.

The operation was launched based on information received from a naval aircraft on a routine surveillance which intercepted unidentified fishing vessels operating in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 60 miles east of Port Blair.

''An unidentified vessel was detected on radar on May 23 and the ICG ship overpowered it after a hot pursuit,'' the deputy commandant added.

About 2,000 kg of Sea Cucumber were recovered from the vessel, some of them alive, to be stored in frozen holds, he said.

The Thai fishermen revealed that the vessel was engaged in poaching of sea cucumbers over the shallow depths of the invisible bank.

According to the ICG officials, this was the first time a Thai vessel was apprehended while poaching sea cucumbers, as compared to the Myanmarese who had been apprehended several times. The catch of sea cucumbers by the Thai vessel was stored in ice whereas the Myanmarese generally dried their catch.

Meanwhile, the ICG ships and aircraft have intensified surveillance in the seas of A&N Islands to prevent any such activity, Mr Rajan added.

UNI