Proceedings of the CITES workshop on the conservation of sea cucumbers in the families Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae , 1-3 March 2004 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Edited by Andrew W. Bruckner U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-34 August 2006 This publication should be cited as: Bruckner, A.W. (editor). 2006. Proceedings of the CITES workshop on the conservation of sea cucumbers in the families Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS- OPR 34 , Silver Spring, MD 244 pp. Significant support for the development and printing of this document was provided by NOAA Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources and NOAA’s Coral Conservation Program. The views expressed in this document are those of the participants of the workshop, and do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the U.S. Government or NOAA. Additional copies of this publication may be requested from: Dr. Andrew W. Bruckner National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation 1315 East West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910 [email protected] Cover photos. Upper photo: Bodaschia argus, Sulawesi Indonesia (Andy Bruckner, NOAA Fisheries) ; lower photo: Sea cuucmbers drying on the beach, Papa New Guinea (Jeff Kinch, University of Papua New Guinea) Proceedings of the CITES workshop on the conservation of sea cucumbers in the families Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae Edited by Andrew Bruckner Office of Habitat Conservation, Rm 15829 NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282 NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-34 August 2006 U.S. Department of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., USN (Ret.) Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere National Marine Fisheries Service William T. Hogarth, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Proceedings of the CITES workshop on the conservation of sea cucumbers in the families Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae Organizing Committee Tom De Meulenaer Alice Burke Paula Henry Andrew Bruckner Working Group Leaders Warwick Nash Kim Friedman Chantall Conand Mohammad Pourkazemi Logistical Support Liz Burgess James Compton Sponsors CITES Secretariat Scientific Support Unit Geneva, Switzerland NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources Silver Spring, MD, USA NOAA’S Coral Reef Conservation Program NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation Silver Spring, MD, USA Department of Fisheries Malaysia Jalan Sultan Salahuddin 50628 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Department of Wildlife and National Parks KM 10, Jalan Cheras 56100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia TRAFFIC Southeast Asia 47400 Petaling Jaya Selangor, Malaysia ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Proceedings of the CITES Workshop on the Conservation of Sea Cucumbers summarizes the outcome of an International CITES meeting on sea cucumbers held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March 2004. This was funded through the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program and NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Species, with additional financial and logistical support from the CITES Secretariat, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and the Department of Fisheries, Malaysia. The workshop was developed and conducted in response to a Decision adopted at the 12th Conference of Parties directing the CITES Secretariat to convene a technical workshop on sea cucumbers to review information on the biological and trade status and identify possible conservation actions. The workshop objectives and terms of reference for the working groups were developed by the Organizing Committee through consultations with the CITES Animals Committee working group on sea cucumbers, and sea cucumber experts invited to the workshop. This team set the vision for the sea cucumber workshop and worked together to develop these proceedings. The workshop would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of all the participants. In particular, we wish to acknowledge the Working Group Chairs, Warwick Nash, Kim Friedman, Chantall Conand, and Mohammad Pourkazemi, and their Rapporteurs, who presided over the deliberations during the workshop and provided draft reports that were used in preparing this document. The success of the workshop is also due to TRAFFIC Southeast Asia for their efforts in coordinating the logistics, including travel arrangements, lodging, meeting facilities, and meals. We would like to thank the people behind the scenes, especially Liz Burgess and James Compton, who were responsible for the audiovisual equipment, set-up, copying and distribution of the materials and organization of the reception. Alice Burke and Paula Henry from the CITES Secretariat need to be commended for all their hard work in compiling, formatting, printing and distributing the white papers and country reports, assistance with powerpoint presentations, and compilation and distribution of the working group reports and other materials to participants during and after the workshop. We would like to thank The Department of Fisheries Malaysia and National Parks Peninsula Malaysia for their assistance in logistical arrangements, their support for the reception, and their contributions through the opening address, keynote speeches and Malaysia Country Report. Special thanks go to Alassandra Lovatelli for his efforts to coordinate FAO efforts on sea cucumbers with CITES and this workshop, and his contributions from the ASCAM workshop. The background information for the participants was provided in the form of four white papers and 16 country reports. A special thanks goes to each of the authors and speakers. Dr Chantal Conand presented a paper and talk on Sea Cucumber Biology, Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation Status and on Harvest and Trade in Sea Cucumbers. This was followed by Dr. Andrew Bruckner, who discussed Management and Conservation Strategies and Practices for Sea Cucumbers and Mr. Glenn Sant, who presented a talk on CITES and Sea Cucumbers. Country Reports were presented by Lu Xiaoping (China), Irma Hernandez (Cuba), Veronica Toral-Granda (Ecuador), Asep Sugiharta (Indonesia), Karl Aiken (Jamaica),Shingo Fukui (Japan), Dinorah Perezrul (Mexico), Zaidnuddin Ilias (Malaysia), Ludivina Labe (Philippines), Andrew Bruckner (USA), and Philip Lambert (Canada). i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ iii Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................... 2 Workshop Agenda ............................................................................................................................ 7 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Terms of Reference for Working Groups ......................................................................................... 11 Report of Working Group 1: National fisheries management ........................................................ 14 Report of Working Group 2: Priorities for international conservation and protection ..................... 20 Report of Working Group 3: Potential CITES implementation issues ........................................... 30 Background Documents .................................................................................................................. 33 Sea Cucumber Biology, Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation Status, C. Conand .......... 33 Harvest and Trade in Sea Cucumbers, C. Conand ................................................................... 51 Management and Conservation Strategies and Practices for Sea Cucumbers, A.Bruckner ....... 74 CITES and Sea Cucumbers, G. Sant ...................................................................................... 104 Country Reports ........................................................................................................................... 122 China .................................................................................................................................... 122 Hong Komg SAR of China .................................................................................................... 135 Cuba ..................................................................................................................................... 141 Ecuador (Galapagos Islands) ................................................................................................. 145 Fiji ........................................................................................................................................ 149 Indonesia .............................................................................................................................. 153 Jamaica ................................................................................................................................. 154 Japan .................................................................................................................................... 158 Mexico ................................................................................................................................. 166 Malaysia ............................................................................................................................... 169