Recovery rates for eight commercial sea cucumber species from the Fiji Islands

Ravinesh Ram,Roveena Vandana Chand,Chaoshu Zeng,Paul C Southgate

doi:10.1016/j.rsma.2016.09.003

Abstract

Determination of the original weight and length of sea cucumbers processed and dried to become bêche-de-mer (BDM), is an important tool in sea cucumber fishery management. The only management mechanism for the sea cucumber fishery in the Fiji Islands is a minimum length prescribed for BDM for export. However, different commercial species have different shrinkage rates during processing and previous studies have suggested modification of fisheries management for sea cucumbers to include species-specific minimum harvest size limits This study determined weight-based and length-based recovery rates (i.e. the length/weight of BDM recovered after processing from the initial length/weight of fresh sea cucumber), for eight commercial sea cucumber species following processing to BDM; White Teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva), Black Teatfish (Holothuria whitmaei), Tigerfish (Bohadschia argus), Surf Redfish (Actinopyga mauritiana), Hairy Blackfish (Actinopyga miliaris), Stonefish (Actinopyga lecanora), Prickly Redfish (Thelenota ananas) and Sandfish (Holothuria scabra). Length and weight recovery rates varied between species and ranged from the highest recovery values of 54.9% for length and 11% for weight in Black Teatfish, to the lowest recovery values of 32.6% for length and 3.0% for weight in Sandfish and Tigerfish, respectively. Length-based and weight-based relationships were generated for each species through the various stages of processing from fresh to dried (BDM) allowing estimation of initial fresh weight/length from partially or fully processed BDM and vice versa. Information generated in this study provides a basis for developing more species-specific harvest size restrictions for sea cucumbers in the Fiji Islands, and has application in stock assessment studies, estimation of harvest data, monitoring of harvest size limits and standardizing catch data.

Highlights

Sea cucumber fisheries are an important source of income for coastal communities in the Pacific (Conand, 1990)
Information generated in this study provides a basis for developing more species-specific harvest size restrictions for sea cucumbers in the Fiji Islands, and has application in stock assessment studies, estimation of harvest data, monitoring of harvest size limits and standardizing catch data
rate for length (RRL) of fully dried BDM ranged from 32.6% for Sandfish to 54.9% for Black Teatfish while rate for weight (RRW) ranged from 3.0% for Tigerfish to 11.0% for Black Teatfish (Fig. 2)

Summary

Introduction

Sea cucumber fisheries are an important source of income for coastal communities in the Pacific (Conand, 1990). (Microthele) whitmaei are among the highest value species (Holland, 1994) and well-dried ‘A’ grade product may command a price of $US 70–190 per kg depending on size and quality (McElroy, 1990; Purcell et al, 2012). Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Solomon Islands, Australia and the Fiji Islands were the leading suppliers of BDM to Asian markets from the Pacific (Ferdouse, 2004) but a moratorium on the fishery has prevented supply from PNG since 2009 (Carleton et al, 2013; Hair et al, 2016). Fiji currently exports around 243 tonnes of BDM per year (Carleton et al, 2012; Ram et al, 2016) composed of at least 27 species ranging from very high to low value species

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