a delegation of fisherfolk representatives met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September. Top on their agenda was a demand to lift a ban imposed in 1982 by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on fishing sea cucumbers smaller than 75 mm in length. The delegation also wanted the revocation of a 2001 ban on the trade in sea cucumbers.

The prime minister promised them a committee to look into the matter. If the proposed committee begins work in right earnest