What's not to love about sea cucumbers? Sedentary creatures related to starfish and sea urchins, sea cucumbers live a slow-paced life on the seafloor, feeding on algae, bacteria and decaying organic matter. They are one of the ocean’s great recyclers and while they may seem like an unassuming, even dull part of the ecosystem, there is evidence that they could play one of the most important roles in fighting one of the biggest threats we face today - climate change. Why? They have the ability to reduce the acidity of the areas where they poo, helping counter the effects of rising sea temperatures. Yes, they are THAT amazing!

Despite their incredibly important role in the marine environment, they often get overlooked, yet loved in a way that is decimating their numbers. Some species are a highly prized delicacy in many parts of the world. They are some of the highest valued seafood on the planet. So when the European Union, Kenya, Senegal, Seychelles, and the USA decided to put forward a proposal to consider three species of Teatfish (Holothurians), a type of sea cucumber widely fished and poached in the Indo-Pacific seas, for CITES Appendix II listing, we knew they would need love and support from our global community to encourage a winning vote for Holothurians at the 18th Conference of the Parties to the Convention in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, hosted in Geneva, Switzerland from 17 to 28 August. 

We mobilized the dive community and called ocean lovers to submit their sea cucumbers photos to our #LoveTheUnloved photo contest launched on Valentine's Day 2019 in support of the CITES CoP18 Holothurians proposal.

We were inundated with high-quality photos and demonstrable levels of support," says Ian Campbell, Project AWARE Associate Director Policy and Campaigns. "This led directly to the US and EU governments referencing the value of them as an attraction to marine tourism as well as playing a vital role in keeping reefs healthy. While there was significant opposition from some countries that consume sea cucumbers, we managed to get a huge win, with over 100 countries supporting, and the role public support played was critical.

Project AWARE’s #LoveTheUnloved photo contest didn’t go unnoticed and gave us ammunition to demonstrate growing public support for species less charismatic than sharks or rhinos, yet so important for ocean ecosystems such as coral reefs.

As we celebrate positive outcome for sea cucumbers at CITES CoP18, we catch up with the winner of our #LoveTheUnloved photo contest: David Donaldson, a retired PADI® Professional Member, and active diver.

Tell us about yourself and your love for sea cucumbers

I used to live (and work as a Divemaster guide) for a while in Lanzarote. Preserving the ocean and its inhabitants, keeping it clean, is an issue that is very important to me as a diver. There are many sea cucumbers in Lanzarote but are usually a very bland and uninteresting color. They are definitely poor relations when it comes to pictures, and because they usually sleep during the day.

In February 2019 I traveled to Mauritius, had the pleasure of diving with Dive Spirit, a vibrant and passionate PADI dive center at Trou-aux-Biches in the northwest of the Island. I did a number of dives with them, and my buddy Ollie, in particular on the Water Lily wreck dive site, which was teeming with abundant life. There were so many different types of morays, shrimps, nudibranchs, ghost pipefish, tropical fish and corals, that we dived this site many times.

Tell us the story behind the #LoveTheUnloved winning photo

On one of our last dives there, I saw this, the biggest sea cucumber I have ever seen at about a meter long. It was a glorious color, setting itself off against the golden white sand, the water being relatively shallow, and the whole scene being bathed in bright sunlight. Unusually this one had stopped out in the open. It had left the distinctive tubular trail behind its rear end. I was intrigued by its size, and the distinctive large spines.

I was setting up to take a picture from the front end against a coral background, using a low-intensity wide video torch beam to maximize the color when I spotted two cleaning shrimps on the front end of the cucumber. As I set up for the picture, one shrimp dived under the front of the cucumber, but with amazing luck, the other one stayed put long enough for the photo in your competition. The photo is pretty much as it was taken with minimal editing, and is a personal favorite.

When I got back to the UK I became aware of your competition as I follow your Instagram page. As I was going through my pictures from the trip I realized that by chance the picture I had and your competition seemed to be on-topic! I was aware that sea cucumbers hoover up debris, that they don't have the glamorous press that their other tropical counterparts have, and perform an unenviable but vital job picking up the leaving of there more glamorous counterparts.

I hope that my picture will go some way to showing that even unglamorous sea cucumbers can have a beauty of their own, and play host to another cool creature doing a similar vital job. So many amazing sea creatures are under threat. On my travels, I have personally seen bleached and devastated coral reefs, where virtually no life remains. It is absolutely shocking, and one can but wonder what they were like in their prime, and be sad at the terrible destruction.

CITES and campaigns like the one Project AWARE espouse are so important, or it may be that pictures like the one I am lucky enough to have taken will be just that, pictures of a past ocean that once we were lucky enough to have seen but which no longer exist!

The inclusion of Teatfish in CITES Appendix II, when the listing comes into effect later this year, will ensure trade is managed and sustainable in a bid to preserve these species and therefore let them play their ecological role. Without sea cucumbers, we face increased threats to coral reefs, seagrass beds, and lagoon areas and we lose a natural weapon in the fight against climate change.

Thank you to all the #LovetheUnloved participants and all those who voted for their favorite photo submission to show love and support for sea cucumbers as we led the charge to not only get threatened shark species listed but contribute to securing trade restrictions for three species of holothurians at CITES CoP18. Another proof that Love always wins! #LoveTheUnloved