ISSN 1025-4943 Secretariat of the Pacific Community BECHE-DE-MER Number 23 — February 2006 INFORMATION BULLETIN Editor and group coordinator: Chantal Conand, Université de La Réunion, Laboratoire de biologie marine, 97715 Saint- Denis Cedex, La Réunion, France. [Fax: +262 938166; Email:
[email protected]]. Production: Information Section, Marine Resources Division, SPC, BP D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia. [Fax: +687 263818; Email:
[email protected]; Website: http://www.spc.int/coastfish]. Produced with financial assistance from the European Union. Editorial This is the 23rd issue of a nearly 16-year-old publication, and I be- lieve the bulletin has now reached its cruising speed with two is- Inside this issue sues published every year for the last five years. I must thank here the many regular and occasional contributors who helped me make this happen, as well as the dedicated SPC Fisheries Informa- Recent developments with tion and Publication Sections‘ staff who work hard behind the the sea cucumber fishery in scenes to maintain the quality of this publication. The important Solomon Islands correspondence included in this issue proves that the bulletin W. Nash and C. Ramofafia p. 3 serves well its goal of linking scientists, technicians, fisheries man- agers and all others with an interest in sea cucumbers, worldwide. Population patterns and seasonal observations on density and I draw, once again, your attention to the new database of all articles distribution of Holothuria grisea and abstracts published in the bulletin to date. This was put together (Holothuroidea:Aspidochirotida) by SPC’s Fisheries Information Section, and is available on SPC’s on the Santa Catarina Coast, Brazil website at: http://www.spc.int/coastfish/news/search_bdm.asp.