Sea cucumbers as a lucrative illegal business
Sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea) are extremely important for the functioning of the benthic marine ecosystem. Today, the fishing for sea cucumbers is banned because they are in permanent closed season although it does not prevent irresponsible individuals along our coast to exploit and illegally sell them into restaurants in Italy, Greece, Turkey and further in Asia.
The problem arose in the 1990's when commercial exploitation of the sea cucumbers was allowed. Following the above, the coast of Makarska was devastated, and the sea cucumbers fishing was banned in Croatia. However, in 2017 the fishing of the sea cucumbers was enabled again.
Sea cucumbers are caught because they are considered to be gastronomic delicacy in Asia, but also in some other countries. Except in Asia, sea cucumbers have recently been caught in the Mediterranean countries where it is legally possible. One kilo of dried product, depending on the quality, reaches the price from 100 to 500 dollars. From about 100 kilos of fresh sea cucumbers, there is only eight to nine kilos of dry product left at the end of processing.
When sea cucumber fishing was allowed in the '90s, divers destroyed the sea bottom along the coast of Makarska. This caused anoxic conditions, that is the lack of oxygen on the sea bottom, and consequently the disappearance of fish and other marine organisms. Fortunately, after this disaster, all species of sea cucumber in Croatia were proclaimed strictly protected. Concrete measures were taken in Croatia in two ministries - the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy. On 24 February 2017, a meeting was held and the participants reached the decision that all issued sea cucumber fishing approvals expire on 1 July 2017, and no new ones will be issued.
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