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Population Status, Fisheries and Trade of Sea Cucumbers in Latin America and the Caribbean Verónica Toral-Granda

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Population Status, Fisheries and Trade of Sea Cucumbers in Latin America and the Caribbean Verónica Toral-Granda 211 Population status, fisheries and trade of sea cucumbers in Latin America and the Caribbean Verónica Toral-Granda Galapagos Islands: a hotspot of sea cucumber fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean Verónica Toral-Granda 213 Population status, fisheries and trade of sea cucumbers in Latin America and the Caribbean Verónica Toral-Granda FAO Consultant Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador E-mail: [email protected] Toral-Granda,V. 2008. Population status, fisheries and trade of sea cucumbers in Latin America and the Caribbean. In V. Toral-Granda, A. Lovatelli and M. Vasconcellos (eds). Sea cucumbers. A global review of fisheries and trade. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 516. Rome, FAO. 2008. pp. 213–229. SUMMARY The region under study comprises a total of 25 countries where, although there are some sea cucumber fisheries, scant information exists about them. There are eleven species of sea cucumbers currently harvested for commercial use in the region, with legal and illegal fisheries currently occurring in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela and Chile. In most of the countries where a fishery exists, there is hardly any biological or ecological information as well as little knowledge on the population status and even, in some cases, the taxonomy of the species under commercial exploitation. In most countries with ongoing fisheries, no management measures are in place and new species are normally being incorporated to the fishing activities. Although sea cucumber fishing it is not a traditional activity, some households have become highly dependent on this fishery, with increasing pressure towards decision makers to allow such activity. Despite the total bans on certain countries for this activity, exports are being recorded in China Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Furthermore, the available catch and trade statistics reveal that a high level of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) activities are currently taking place. Amongst the major threats to sea cucumber populations in the region, one can mention the development of fisheries with little or no information on the species, its biology, ecology and population status. Additionally, the permanent search of new species to supply the bêche-de-mer markets poses a serious threat to the wellbeing of not only sea cucumber populations but for the ecosystem as well. Sea cucumber fisheries have arrived to the furthermost fishing grounds available. The impact of this activity on the population status and socio-economic dependence by local fishers are noticeable, especially for an area where no knowledge or political will exists so as to avoid an overexploitation spiral that may leave few species in the brink of extinction. 1. THE REGION The region under study comprises Mexico, Central America and South America (Figure 1). Information from countries in the Caribbean region, including Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba, is also reported. 214 Sea cucumbers. A global overview of fisheries and trade FIGURE 1 Region under study and countries covered in this review (highlighted in yellow). The region encompasses the FAO Statistical Areas 31 (Western Central Atlantic), 77 (Eastern Central Pacific), 87 (Southeast Pacific) and 41 (Southwest Atlantic) 140°W 120°W 100°W 80°W 60°W 40°W 20°W 67 21 27 37 30°N Jamaica 30°N Mexico Tropic of Cancer Cuba Dominican Belize 31 HaitiRepublic 77 Honduras Puerto 34 El Salvador Rico 10°N Nicaragua 10°N Costa Rica Panama Venezuela Colombia Equator Ecuador 10°S 10°S Brazil Pacific Peru Ocean Chile Tropic of Capricorn 87 47 30°S Argentina 30°S 41 Atlantic Uruguay Ocean 81 50°S 50°S 48 88 140°W 120°W 100°W 80°W 60°W 40°W 20°W 2. BIOLOGICAL AND population status 2.1 Key taxonomic groups Current legal fishing activities involve specimens from the Order Aspidochirotida and Dendrochirotida, with the families Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae as the most common; however, two species from the family Cucumaridae (Dendrochirotida) have also been recorded (Table 1). TaBLE 1 Sea cucumber species under commercial exploitation in Mexico, Central and South America Order Family Species Commercial exploitation Aspidochirotida Holothuriidae Actinopyga agassizi Panama, Venezuela Holothuria mexicana Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela H. impatiens Mexico H. theelii Peru H. atra Ecuador H. kefersteini Ecuador H. inornata Costa Rica H. arenicola Nicaragua Stichopodidae Isotichopus badionotus Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela I. fuscus Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru Stichopus horrens Ecuador Astchopus multifidus Panama, Caribbean region Dendrochirotidae Cucumaridae Athyonidium chilensis Chile, Peru Pattalus mollis Chile, Peru Population status, fisheries and trade of sea cucumbers in Latin America and the Caribbean 215 On the Pacific coast of Mexico, South and Central America, the current species under legal commercial exploitation are Isostichopus fuscus (Ludwig 1875) in the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) (Toral-Granda and Martínez, 2004) and in Baja California (Mexico) (Castro 1995, 1997; Aguilar-Ibarra and Ramírez-Soberón, 2002), Holothuria impatiens and Parastichopus parvimensis in Mexico (Castro, 1997), Holothuria arenicola in Nicaragua (Palacios and Brenes, 2008), Holothuria theelii in Peru (Elliott, González and Ramirez, undated) and Athyonidium chilensis and Pattalus mollis in Chile and Peru (Guisado, C., Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile, personal communication; Elliott et al., 2000). Illegal activities have started in the Galapagos Islands targeting Stichopus horrens (Hearn and Pinillos, 2006; Reyes and Murillo, 2007), H. atra (Reyes and Murillo, 2007) and H. kefersteini (Toral-Granda et al., 2005). Guzman and Guevara (2002) reported that the most highly commercial species in the Caribbean region are Isostichopus badionotus, Astichopus multifidus and Holothuria mexicana, although Conand (2006) mentions that there is an incipient fishery for Actinopyga agassizi as well. A sea cucumber fishery within Venezuelan waters was registered in mid-1990s, based on H. mexicana and I. badionotus (Rodríguez-Milliet and Marquez-Pauls, 1998). Unfortunately, recent information on this fishery is not available. In Nicaragua, there are three taxonomically identified species currently exploited, however, there are at least seven more sea cucumber species being targeted. These are known with their local common names. 2.2 Biology and ecology of sea cucumbers Little is known for all sea cucumber species in the region, with sparse information on few species that could be of commercial interest. Guzman, Guevara and Hernandez (2003) present basic reproductive biology parameters for I. badionotus and H. mexicana from the Caribbean coast of Panama. Both species present a unimodal population structure with a majority of mature individuals and a 1:1 male to female sex ratio. The size at sexual maturity (SOM) is between 13 and 20 cm total length (TL). These species also showed a continuous reproductive activity throughout the year, with a peak of reproductive activity between July and November for I. badionotus and between February and July for H. mexicana (Guzman, Guevara and Hernández, 2003). In northwestern Venezuela, the gametogenic cycle of I. badionotus is continuous, reaching maximum maturity during July and August (Foglietta et al., 2004); whereas, in Brazil, I. badionotus presents a high gonadal index in October and November and in January and February, with a spawning event occurring only in January when the sea temperature is at its highest (Pires-Nogueira et al., 2003). In Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, spawning of this species was recorded after the full moon in August (Graaf, Geertjes and Videler, 1999). I. badionotus is a large species reaching up to 45 cm TL with a wide distribution in the Caribbean; its southern geographic distribution reaching to south of Brazil (Conand, 2006). It is a common shallow water species, inhabiting mud, sand and rocky bottoms. Adults are generally exposed, whilst the juveniles hide under rubble (Conand, 2006). To the author’s knowledge, no information on aestivation is available. H. mexicana is also a large species (reaching up to 50 cm TL), inhabiting offshore reefs between 2 and 10 m depth (Conand, 2006). The gametogenesis and spawning for H. mexicana occurs during spring–summer and late summer in southern Florida (Engshorm, 1980; Mosher, 1982), however, individuals with mature gametes can be found throughout the year (Guzman, Guevara and Hernandez, 2003). In Curaçao, 70 percent of the individuals spawned within five days of the full moon between August and October (van Veghel, 1993). Rodríguez-Milliet and Pauls (1998) reported the SOM for H. mexicana at 18 cm TL. To the author’s knowledge, no information on aestivation is available. A. multifidus can reach 50 cm TL and it is characteristic of soft bottoms, with muddy or sandy patches, in and around seagrass beds (Conand, 2006). P. parvimensis 216 Sea cucumbers. A global overview of fisheries and trade has a geographical distribution from Cedros Island, Baja California to Carmel Bay, California. It occurs subtidally on both rocky and soft habitats down to 60 m depth. A. agassizi is also large (35 cm TL) inhabiting rocky areas and seagrass beds. It is a nocturnal species (Conand, 2006). Out of the species of commercial importance within the region, I. fuscus is probably the species most studied. It can be found from Baja California to mainland Ecuador, including Galapagos, Socorro, Cocos and Revillagigedos islands (Deichman, 1958; Maluf,
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