As Indian trawlers steal Sri Lankan fish, Chinese sea cucumber firm offers a lifeline

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As Indian trawlers steal Sri Lankan fish, Chinese sea cucumber firm offers a lifeline​

• Indian boats have been illegally poaching in Sri Lanka’s waters, taking advantage of the country’s economic crisis and struggling fishermen
• Now a Beijing-owned venture has been helping them to cultivate sea cucumbers instead, to be exported to mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
• 
• Fisherman Velupillai Rasaratnam pushes his wooden boat out in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. He can no longer afford fuel for a motorised vessel. Photo: Sonia Sarkar
  At 7am, Velupillai Rasaratnam, pushes his 15-feet long wooden boat closer to the Karainagar shore with the help of a younger fisherman in Sri Lanka’s war-torn Northern Province.
  Wearing a black T-shirt and red shorts, the 70-year-old rows for around an hour, catching a few grey mullets that he plans to sell for 700 Sri Lankan rupees (US$2) at a local fish auction.
  An hour is as far as his tired arms can take him. And as Sri Lanka reels from an acute economic crisis, it is increasingly clear that fishermen like Rasaratnam have borne the brunt of major fuel shortages.
• https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/econ...eal-sri-lankan-fish-chinese-sea-cucumber-firm