Seattle sea cucumber poachers reeled in $1.5m

Washington man faces prison for role in years-long operation to poach and sell 250,000lb of poorly understood creature

A Seattle-area fish processor who hoped to cash in on China's appetite for sea cucumber faces years in prison for his role in a $1.5m poaching scheme that rocked an already unstable fishery.

Federal prosecutors claim Hoon Namkoong led a years-long operation to poach and sell sea cucumbers as regulators were cutting the struggling Washington state fishery. Dozens of divers are also implicated in the poaching ring. Namkoong bought at least 250,000lb of stolen sea cucumber taken illegally from waters once rich with the echinoderms.