Synamon Global’s Seacucumber Symposium 2025 in Jaffna
By Jekhan Aruliah
The Seacucumber Symposium in Jaffna, sponsored by the US based investment organisation Synamon Global, brought together many diverse opinions to share and enhance knowledge and understanding. Academics and entrepreneurs gave their opinions and advice, occasionally in heated fashion. Thus achieving Synamon Global’s objective, to make the seacucumber industry a powerful sustainable and environmentally sensitive contributor to the Sri Lankan economy.
Contradictory statements were heard. Are the seacucumbers “cleaners of the ocean”, by their eating habits consuming detritus and other matter which they process to release what is cleaner and more useful for the ecology? Or does the high density of the animals, artificially concentrated into hundreds of acre sized pens along the coast, itself cause more pollution? Does taking seacucumber from the wild reduce the population. Or does keeping them together result in far greater spawning of the larvae. Is seacucumber “black gold” to be snatched for the insatiable Far Eastern demand, or should they be gently harvested under tight control, or even left undisturbed? All these opinions were heard from academics, consultants and entrepreneurs. The audience was from the top levels of these sectors, very well informed, who had gathered for this two day symposium end of July at Jaffna’s Northgate Hotel.
Hon. Ramalingam Chandrasekar, Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources, came to make his speech. Politicians carry great responsibility for policy making. Relying considerably on the advice their advisors provide: ecological advice, demographic advice, economic advice, political advice. Apart from the political angle, this symposium sought to cover them all.
The Governor, Hon. Mr N.Vethanayagam, spoke from the head and the heart about the contribution to the economic well being of people as well as the ecological balance of the Northern coast. The day was capably compered by Mr Ganendran, himself a veteran seacucumber entrepreneur farming and processing the animals in Jaffna for export to Singapore. With the overall organisation of the event ably conducted by Sonali Weerackody from Synamon Global in New York and the team at the Synamon Global office in Jaffna.
Jaffna seacucumber are of the highest quality. The geography of the peninsular coast has meant the waters are clean and nutritious for the seacucumber. The animals are fully organic as no added foods are needed, which also keeps the production costs down. Ganendran says 90% of the production costs is actually the security to guard against poaching: building and maintaining the watch towers, paying the security staff. And the costs of generators to keep the lights on all night.
The industry is tightly regulated. From getting the required permissions from several government agencies, leasing the acres of sea for the farms, all the way down the supply chain to getting export licences to sell the product to the lucrative markets of Singapore, China, South Korea.
Sri Lanka has strict nature protection policies. National Parks and Nature Reserves, both land and marine, have been setup and enforced. Sonali Weerackody, the New York based driving force behind this symposium, said “Two key take-aways of the Symposium were the recognition that creating sanctuaries for ocean life is essential for the sustainable development of aquaculture in Sri Lanka; and mandatory education and certifications to promote standardized excellence in our exports.” Sonali emphasised the importance of implementing traceability as part of the export and sustainability of this industry.
Synamon Global (SG), based in New York is part of the Family Office of Mr Raj Rajaratnam. SG has a sharp focus for Sri Lanka. The creation of jobs, of decent sustainable livelihoods. The growth of profitable industries, which can scale, and can innovate. Synamon Global has invested in a range of businesses: IT; Agriculture; Food value add; Manufacturing. It has also focused on the paddy farmers of the Vanni area around Killinochchi.
Synamon Global doesn’t give its investments for free, it takes a return on the investment. Synamon Global requires regular reporting from the invested companies. However every cent it receives from the invested companies, it donates. It takes no administration fees, no running costs from this income. Synamon Global makes its money in New York, not in Sri Lanka.
( — The writer Jekhan Aruliah was born in Sri Lanka and moved with his family to the UK when he was two years of age. Brought up in London, he graduated from Cambridge University in 1986 with a degree in Natural Sciences. Jekhan then spent over two decades in the IT industry, for half of which he was managing offshore software development for British companies in Colombo and in Gurgaon (India). In 2015 Jekhan decided to move to Jaffna where he is now involved in social and economic projects. He can be contacted at jekhanaruliah@gmail.com — )