RAMESHWARAM, India, May 3 (UPI) -- Indian officials say wildlife in a marine reserve is declining as smugglers harvest protected species used in traditional Chinese medicines and gourmet dining.
Officials of the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve in the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka said smugglers taking advantage of lax conservation laws are responsible for the loss of more than 29,000 pounds of sea cucumbers and seahorses in the last 16 months.
"The seahorse found in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is one of the five rarer species of seahorses," Shekhar Kumar Niraj, field director of the Gulf of Mannar reserve, told Inter Press Service.
Illegal marine wildlife traders in India smuggle their catch to nearby countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, where the protected species items become legal marine exports to other Southeast Asian countries under exemptions in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, officials said.
"We are as yet unable to trace the route of smuggled goods and links beyond Sri Lanka to markets in the Far East, primarily because once the goods arrive in Sri Lanka they become legal exports, blocking our investigations further," a wildlife crime inspector said.
The marine reserve is habitat for corals, crabs, clown fish, dolphins, porpoise, sea cucumbers, seahorses, turtles, whales and a number of highly endangered endemic marine wildlife, officials said.
