The owner of a Washington seafood company was sentenced to two years in prison for overharvesting sea cucumbers and must pay $1.5 million in restitution — the second large bust of illegal sea cucumber trade in the U.S. West in just over a year. Sea cucumbers, which are shaped like cucumbers with small feet and measure up to 6 feet, are echinoderms, a family that includes starfish and sea urchin. Harvesting sea cucumbers is permitted in the United States and many parts of the world, but with limited quantities and only during high season. Last year, federal officials filed charges against a father-son partnership for allegedly smuggling more than $17 million worth of sea cucumbers to the United States and exporting them to Asia. According to court records, in the recent Washington case, Namkoong bought Puget Sound sea cucumbers from both tribal and nontribal fishers over three seasons.

Source: Fox News September 30, 2018 01:30 UTC