For the first time, American Samoa has banned the removal of sea cucumbers after fisheries officials reported reefs being stripped bare of the species.
The over-fishing, and illegal harvesting, of sea cucumbers is a problem that has been with other Pacific Island nations for years, but has only recently found its way to America Samoa.
The American Samoa governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga placed a six-month moratorium on the taking and removing of sea cucumbers in American Samoa, and its Exclusive Economic Zone. A fisheries biologist with the department of marine and wildlife resources, Alice Lawrence, says Samoans typically would take sea cucumbers for personal use only, or sell a small amount at the markets. But she says recently the species have been removed at an alarming rate.
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