ISSN 1025-4943 Secretariat of the Pacific Community BECHE-DE-MER Number 19 — January 2004 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, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia. [Fax: +687 263818; Email: cf- [email protected]; Website: http://www.spc.int/coastfish]. Produced with financial assistance from the European Union. Editorial Inside this issue The great event in sea cucumber research and development this year was the workshop on Advances in Sea Cucumber Aquaculture and Advances in Sea Cucumber Management (ASCAM) held Dalian, Liaoning Province, China. Aquaculture and Management Organised by the Fishery Department of the Food and Agriculture (ASCAM) p. 3 Organization (FAO) and held from 14–18 October, the workshop gathered experts from all over the world. Abstracts and some infor- Periodic movement and sheltering mation on the workshop and the visit to two sea cucumber hatcheries behaviour of Actinopyga mauritiana are presented on page 4. Workshop proceedings will be published in (Holothuroidea: Aspidochirotidae) early 2004 by FAO as: A. Lovatelli, C. Conand, S. Purcell, S. Uthicke, J.- in Solomon Islands F. Hamel and A. Mercier (eds). Advances in sea cucumber aquaculture J.C.H. Graham and S.C. Battaglene and management. p. 23 In this issue, we also present several original articles: Resource evaluation of the current populations of two commercially J. Graham and S. Battaglene present observations on periodic move- harvested sea cucumber species ment and sheltering behaviour of Actinopyga mauritiana in Solomon (Actinopyga mauritiana and Stichopus Islands (page 23). chloronotus), and recommendations for management for Kosrae State In Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, S. Lindsay and S. Abraham (FSM) conducted a resource evaluation of the populations of two commer- S. Lindsay and S. Abraham p. 31 cially harvested sea cucumber species, Actinopyga mauritiana and Stichopus chloronotus (page 31). On Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands, J. Marine resource survey and Bungitak and S. Lindsay conducted a marine resource survey and as- assessment of Jaluit Atoll, sessment. The article on page 33 provides the data collected on the Republic of the Marshall Islands commercially targeted holothurians. J. Bungitak and S. Lindsay p. 33 The first data on the sea cucumber fishery in Mayotte, Indian Ocean, is Sea cucumber fisheries in the presented by A. Pouget on page 35. Mayotte reef system, Indian Ocean Adeline Pouget p. 35 R. Pitt has left Vietnam, but uses data collected there to present, with his colleague Dinh Quang Duy, length–weight relationships for sandfish Length-weight relationship for (Holothuria scabra) (page 39) sandfish (Holothuria scabra) R. Pitt and N.D. Quang Duy p. 39 MARINE RESOURCES DIVISION – INFORMATION SECTION 2 SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin #19 – January 2004 Following the questionnaires on spawning observations and fission, still occuring, we set up a new questionnaire on juvenile occurrence. The information gathered will add to the knowledge on this obscure life Natural spawning observation cycle phase of most holothurian species (page 41). of Holothuria tubulosa Adrian Valls p. 40 You will also find our regular features on abstracts, publications and meetings. The 11th International Echinoderm Conference was held at Questionnaire on the field the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany, from 6–10 observations of juvenile October 2003. The abstracts of the oral presentations and posters on sea cucumbers holothurians (page 43) are included in this issue and the articles are Glenn Shiell p. 41 being referred for publication. More information is available at: www.iec2003.uni-muenchen.de. Correspondence p. 42 Abstracts, publications, Previous issues of this bulletin are available online, in English and workshops and meetings p. 43 French at: http://www.spc.org.nc/coastfish. New members p. 63 The last issue of the Bulletin of the Echinoderms Newsletter is avail- able online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/iz/echinoderm Chantal CONAND Produced with financial assistance from the European Union. The views expressed in this Bulletin are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community or the European Union. PIMRIS is a joint project of five international organi- the availability of information on marine resources sations concerned with fisheries and marine re- to users in the region, so as to support their ratio- source development in the Pacific Islands region. nal development and management. PIMRIS activi- The project is executed by the Secretariat of the ties include: the active collection, cataloguing and Pacific Community (SPC), the South Pacific Forum archiving of technical documents, especially ephe- Fisheries Agency (FFA), the University of the South mera (‘grey literature’); evaluation, repackaging Pacific (USP), the South Pacific Applied Geoscience and dissemination of information; provision of lit- Commission (SOPAC), and the South Pacific erature searches, question-and-answer services and Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). This bibliographic support; and assistance with the de- bulletin is produced by SPC as part of its commit- Pacific Islands Marine Resources velopment of in-country reference collections and ment to PIMRIS. The aim of PIMRIS is to improve Information System databases on marine resources. SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin #19 – January 2004 3 newnewbeche-de-merbeche-de-mer infoinfo Advances in Sea Cucumber Aquaculture and Management (ASCAM) The international workshop, "Advances in Sea Cu- Session I: Status of sea cucumber fisheries cumber Aquaculture and Management (ASCAM)", Session II: Sea cucumber resources management organised by the Fishery Department of the Food Session III: Aquaculture advances and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was held from 14 to 18 October in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China. The abstracts of presentations are included below. Fifty experts from around the world, including All workshop reports and recommendations made China, attended the workshop. during the discussions following each session, will be published by FAO in early 2004 (Lovatelli, A., The ASCAM workshop focused its presentations Conand C., Purcell S., Uthicke S., Hamel J.-F. and and discussions on three main topics: Mercier A. (eds). Advances in sea cucumber aqua- culture and management. Participants to ASCAM Workshop (Photo J.-F. Hamel) 4 SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin #19 – January 2004 1- ABSTRACTS* SESSION 1 - STATUS OF RESOURCES AND UTILISATION Present status of world sea cucumber resources and utilisation:An international overview Chantal Conand Laboratoire ECOMAR, Université de La Réunion, 97715 Saint-Denis Messagerie Cedex 9, France. Email: [email protected] In this report the data on traditional and recent Singapore and Hong Kong (China), are difficult to worldwide tropical and temperate sea cucumber quantify and to keep track of as products are re-ex- fisheries for the last fourteen years (1986–2000) are ported based on regional demand and quality. The summarised based on FAO statistics, data from var- different qualitative indices analysed clearly show ious issues of the SPC Beche-de-Mer Bulletin, and that overexploitation is becoming apparent on a other available publications. There has been increas- worldwide basis as the demand for trepang increases. ing interest in this benthic resource and an expan- In support of a sustainable utilisation of the resource, sion of the fisheries as a whole. Numerous sea cu- an efficient management plan of action has become a cumber fisheries are witnessing conflicts among the priority that should take into account all the different fishermen, processors and the authorities managing levels of the "Holothurian system" described. the resources. The processed products are generally exported from the producing countries to Hong This presentation will help provide a general and Kong (China), Singapore and Taiwan, Province of current picture on the state of affairs within this in- China, all three of which are important Asian mar- dustry. The need for further action is emphasised, kets for sea cucumber as well as ports for re-export- particularly with regards to the development of ing to other markets such as the one in China. These standardised stock assessment methodologies and market trade flow mechanisms, particularly in the collection of statistical data. Present status and prospects of sea cucumber industry in China Chen Jiaxin Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, 106 Nanjing Road, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China 266071. Email: [email protected] In China, there are about 20 species of edible sea cu- has become a vital fraction of the aquaculture sector cumbers that have been considered as a traditional in the northern part of China, including Liaoning medicine and tonic food for many years. Nutrient and Shandong Provinces. The total landing volume analysis shows that the body wall and intestine of from farming reached over 5800 tonnes (wet weight) sea cucumbers has a high nutrient value. Protein in 2000, which were either directly sold to restau- content of dried sea cucumber is more than 50 per rants or processed as dry products and healthy food cent for most edible species, while glucosaminogly- (functional