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Profitability of the new target sea cucumber species from Mediterranean and NE Atlantic: Holothuria polii, H. mammata, H. tubulosa and H. arguinensis

Jorge Antonio Dominguez-Godino1, Mehmet Aydin2 and Mercedes Wangüemert1*
  • 1 CCMAR-UALG, MARESMA team, Marine Resources Management, Portugal
  • 2 University of Ordu, Fatsa Faculty of Marine Sciences, Türkiye

Sea cucumbers in the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea are becoming an important marine exploited resource. Turkey is the only Mediterranean country where sea cucumbers are commercially harvested since 1996 (Aydin 2008). The recent interest on sea cucumbers exploitation in this area, is driven by overexploitation of tropical species, increasing demand from the Asian market and high prices of this product depending on the species, size and processing quality (Purcell 2014). The more common sea cucumber target species in the Mediterranean Sea are Holothuria polii, H. mammata and H. tubulosa, reaching catches around 600 Tn only from Turkey in 2011 (González-Wangüemert et al. 2014). As consequence of these catches, it was registered a reduction on the abundance, size and genetic diversity of the harvested species (González-Wangüemert et al. 2014; González-Wangüemert et al. 2015). However, the selection and catches of target species could change along years according their availability. For example, Parastichopus regalis was caught during 1996-1997 as by-catch using beam trawl fisheries in Turkey (González-Wangüemert et al. 2014), but in the next years the effort was focused on species belonging to Holothuria genus. In NE Spain, the catches of P. regalis are registered since XIX century being the main food for fishermen from Catalonia, Valencia and Balearic islands (Ramón et al. 2010). H. forskali started to be caught in the last two years from Turkish and Atlantic Spanish waters (Aydin pers. Commun, 2015; Diario Oficial de Galicia, 31 December 2014), being legal its capture in Galiza (NW Spain). The largest and main target species in Southern Spain is H. arguinensis, being caught by unless 10 companies and exported to China, producing a profit for some of them up to 1-2 millions $ US (Alibaba, 1999-2015a; Forbuyers, 2011-2015; Gomez, 2011; González-Wangüemert et al. 2016). In Portugal, several companies are selling H. arguinensis among others sea cucumber species such as H. forskali, H. mammata and H. sanctori, with prices ranged from 70 to 350 €/kg depending on quality of the product (Alibaba, 1999-2015b; Pires, 2016; González-Wangüemert et al. 2016). An extreme case of sea cucumber illegal fishing is being carried out in the Ria Formosa (S Portugal), where several confiscations, including more than 100 kilograms of H. arguinensis each one, have been carried out by the Portuguese Marine Police in the last months (Figueiras et al. 2016; Pires, 2016; Policía Marítima 2016). The sea cucumbers are mainly exported as beche-de-mer, which is the body wall of the sea cucumber dried. The commercial value of a species is mostly determined by the size and the thickness of the body wall, among other criteria. Since the final product is the dry body of the sea cucumber, the profitability would depend on body wall thickness and water content which are different between species (González-Wangüemert et al. 2016). The aim of our study is to assess and compare the profitability of the main exploited sea cucumbers in NE Atlantic and Mediterranean, including Holothuria polii, H. mammata, H. tubulosa and H. arguinensis. Alive individuals of Holothuria polii (n=50), H. mammata (n=50) and H. tubulosa (n=50) were obtained from the commercial fishing boats from Akbuk (Turkey) in 2015. The eviscerated weight (EW ± 0.01 g) for each individual was registered. The sea cucumbers were processed according the commercial method used in Turkey. Firstly, sea cucumbers were boiled for 30 minutes at 100 ºC in sea water, to be after dried in a drying room for 30 minutes. After that period, dry weight (EW ± 0.01 g) was registered. Individuals of H. arguinensis (n=35) were collected from Ria Formosa (S Portugal) and processed as it was described previously. However, since the body wall of H. arguinensis is thicker, it was dried for 48 hours. For each species the profitability (Prof (%) = 100* dry weight / eviscerated weight) was calculated and the obtained values between species were compared using variance analysis (ANOVA). H. arguinensis was the species that showed the highest profitability, being 18.39%. The next species showing the higher profitability was H. polii with 15.36%, which was no significantly different. Similar profitability was obtained for H. mammata and H. tubulosa, being 11.95% and 10.75% respectively. Both values of profitability were significantly different to the ones of H. arguinensis and H. polii. Our results showed that H. arguinensis has a higher profitability than the other commercial sea cucumber species studied, probably due to H. arguinensis shows thicker body wall and higher wet weight than individuals with similar length belonging to the other studied species. Surprisingly, H. polii is the second species with higher profitability, in spite of it has the most fine thickness of body wall. H. arguinensis and H. polii showed higher dry weight (after processing) than the reported for other species of sea cucumber such as Actinopyga echinites (10.5%), A. spinea (7.3%), Holothuria lessoni (9.8%), Stichopus hermanni (3.3%), H. whitmaei (11.6%) and A. palauensis (11.7%) (Purcell et al. 2009). In addition, our other two target species, H. tubulosa and H. mammata, showed similar profitability that the previously mentioned species. According exploitation criteria (González-Wangüemert et al. 2016) and overall profitability, H. arguinensis is the best target species. However, it is important to stress its restricted geographical distribution (Rodrigues, 2012; González-Wangüemert & Borrero-Pérez, 2012) which must be considered on its further fishery management plan. This species has a growing interest because it was developed the biotechnology for its induced reproduction in captivity and maintenance of larvae and juveniles (Domínguez-Godino et al. 2015) which facilitated the development of its aquaculture. In general, the new target species sea cucumber species from Europe show similar profitability level than some commercialized tropical beche-de-mer. It is important to highlight that there is a urgent need to assess the stocks of the new target sea cucumber species and implement right management measures to address an adequate exploitation of the resources. This need is even more important for H. arguinensis, being the species with more restricted geographical distribution range and the highest illegal fishing pressure, and providing the highest economical revenue considering its profitability.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by CUMFISH (PTDC/MAR/119363/2010; http://www.ccmar.ualg.pt/cumfish/) and CUMARSUR (PTDC/MAR-BIO/5948/2014; http://www.maresma.org/) funded by Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). J. Domínguez-Godino was supported by research fellow (CCMAR/BI/0007/2015). M. Gonzaléz-Wangüemert was supported by FCT postdoctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/70689/2010) and later by FCT Investigator Programme-Career Development (IF/00998/2014).

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Keywords: Sea Cucumbers, Fisheries, profitability, Mediterranean and NE Atlantic, Management

Conference: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2016, Peniche, Portugal, 14 Jul - 15 Jul, 2016.

Presentation Type: Poster presentation

Topic: Fisheries and Management

Citation: Dominguez-Godino J, Aydin M and Wangüemert M (2016). Profitability of the new target sea cucumber species from Mediterranean and NE Atlantic: Holothuria polii, H. mammata, H. tubulosa and H. arguinensis. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2016. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.04.00024

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Received: 22 Apr 2016; Published Online: 13 Jul 2016.

* Correspondence: Dr. Mercedes Wangüemert, CCMAR-UALG, MARESMA team, Marine Resources Management, Faro, 8005-139, Portugal, wangumemar@gmail.com