Sea cucumbers are one of the grossest looking and feeling things lying on the sandy ocean bottom. They are long and thick, like a cucumber, but they are very squishy to the touch, almost like holding solid Jell-O. Mostly they are black and look like big, unsightly turds lying in the white sand. Bear loves to pick them up as they are harmless. If the animals become too frightened they expel their apparently untastey guts as a defense mechanism. Very gross! Sea cucumbers are cleaning agents to reefs and are important for keeping them healthy. Some places abound with them - so many that it's difficult to walk in shallow waters without stepping on them. There are many types of sea cucumbers, some spiky, some colorful, and some grow very large (like those rice-filled neck heaters). But all in all, they are necessary to the ecosystem but fairly benign and not useful to the locals.
China has another take on these creatures. Like pricey caviar requiring an acquired taste, sea cucumbers have become a status symbol and are considered a delicacy in China. The government of Tonga has recently issued harvesting licenses to some Chinese companies. The result has been a depletion of the sea cucumbers in Tongan waters and some Toganese reaping great financial benefits - in the short run. We have heard that each sea cucumber is worth between $30-70 Tongan dollars ($15-35 US). (Rarer species are worth more.) An average Tongan worker makes about $30 USD Tongan per day so the appeal to locals is understandable.
Sea cucumber harvesting seems to be a new endeavor so the result on the environment is yet unknown. However, some local pelangi (foreigners) warn this practice could endanger the reefs. And certainly the local economy is being skewed. People the world-over are not immune to ruining their environments in the pursuit of money. When you see it happening in current times, it is difficult to not be, at the least, annoyed, at the most, enraged. In the future, these slimy, unsightly necessary creatures may
