A review of recent developments in the world sea cucumber fisheries

Marine Fisheries Review, Fall, 1993 by Chantal Conand, Maria Byrne

Local consumption by people of Chinese heritage in Indonesia has not been evaluated, but it probably does not exceed a few hundred metric tons. From FAO export data, as well as from the pooled market imports, production appears to have peaked in 1988, as in other countries. In the Indonesian fishery, two types of fishing practices are undertaken according to the size of the boat.(1) With small boats, three or four fishermen harvest daily on local reefs, usually without diving equipment. The catch is processed when they return. With larger boats, around ten fishermen travel to distant reefs for periods of up to several months, often with their families. They use diving gear (compressed air) and sell the processed product in the nearby towns. Approximately ten species of sea cucumbers are processed by traditional Indonesian methods which may include two unusual features: Soaking in salt before boiling and incising the body wall of larger species. These practices give an unusual appearance to the processed product and probably result in a lower quality and less valuable product.

Malaysia

The Malaysian situation is complex, as the country appears to be simultaneously a producer, exporter, importer, and consumer. From the available statistics, the products are preferentially exported to Singapore. There is a paucity of data on the Malaysian fishery, and more information is needed to understand its organization.

Eastern Indian Ocean Countries

India and Sri Lanka are traditional producers in the northeastern Indian Ocean, and the Maldives are an important newcomer (Table 3). These countries do not have domestic beche-de-mer markets.

Table 3. -- Recent beche-de-mer production (t) from the Indian Ocean

countries. Sources: Asian market imports (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan), FAO statistics.

                                            Production (t)
Nations and
  data sources                   1986   1987   1988   1989   1990
India
  Asian market imports             67     79     33     94
  FAO catch
  FAO exports                      33     56     34
Sri Lanka
  Asian market imports             78     47     72     52     43
  FAO catch
  FAO exports                      54     45     61     32
Maldives
  Asian market imports              3     19    347    367    551
  FAO catch                         3     33    553    553
  FAO exports                       3     33    553    500
Western Indian Ocean countries
  Asian market imports            382    535    620    470    912
  FAO catch                       250    315    273    227
  FAO exports                     188    191    433    114

India and Sri Lanka

In India, the industry is restricted to the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, although sea cucumber resources are found in many islands. In Sri Lanka, the fishery is established in the Northern Cape. The fishery research institutes of India (Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute) and Sri Lanka (National Aquatic Research Agency) have been conducting studies on the biology of several commercial holothurians and have evaluated the resources for many years. They recently organized a beche-de-mer workshop which brought together persons involved in the biology, fishery, and trade of commercial species (James, 1989a, b). Overfishing has been reported for both countries. This indicates that the fishery needs to be regulated by size limit on the processed products and by regulation of exports. From the recent statistics presented in Table 3, it appears that the exports are regular and <100 t/year from each country. India exports largely to Singapore, whereas destinations of the Sri Lankan product are more diverse.