Sea cucumbers

Sea cucumbers, especially of the families Holothuridae and Stichopodidae, form an important part of a multi-species invertebrate fishery that has been in existence in the Indo-Pacific for traditional and subsistence uses, but have expanded since the late 1980s to supply growing international markets with bêche-de-mer, a luxury food item, and also organisms for aquaria and biomedical research. Trends in the fishery indicate that the number of producing countries and species in trade have recently increased worldwide, both in tropical and temperate regions, and holothurian fisheries have spread to many non-traditional fishing areas such as Mexico, the Galapagos and North America during the 1990s. For instance, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR) import statistics show an increase from 25 source countries in 1987-1989 to 49 countries that exported bêche-de-mer in 2000-2001. The total trade in holothurians increased substantially in the late 1980s, and by 1995 reached a global annual volume of over 13,000 metric tons, valued at about US $ 60 million.

Available trade data may represent an underestimate of the total global commerce, as trade routes for holothurians are complicated, export data are incompletely reported, and commodities in trade can include several forms of dried product as well as chilled, frozen and salted bêche-de-mer. Bêche-de-mer is primarily exported from producer countries to a central market in Hong Kong SAR, Singapore or Chinese Taipei, and then re-exported to Chinese consumers worldwide.

The general life-history traits of this group of invertebrates suggest that they constitute fragile stocks. Holothurians are extremely vulnerable to over-exploitation due to their late maturity, density-dependent reproduction, low survival of larvae, and ease of collection by humans. Over the last two decades, many of the high value species have been overexploited in much of Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific islands to meet a growing demand and international trade to supply Asian markets. A marked increase in landings and export of holothurians, combined with a limited amount of fishery data, a paucity of biological information and population parameters for commercially important species, and the existence of few management measures, are all factors contributing to the decline of holothurian populations.

NOAA Fisheries Service submitted a discussion document to the 12th meeting (COP12, Santiago, 2002) of the Conference of the Parties requesting that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) evaluate conservation concerns associated with the dramatic increase in harvest and export of sea cucumbers for beche-de-mer, and determine whether a CITES Appendix-II listing could help ensure sustainable trade in target species. Biological and trade information strongly suggest that sea cucumbers may qualify for listing in Appendix II of CITES. Given the past and continuing levels of exploitation to meet international demand, these species meet criteria in Resolution Conf. 9.24 Annex 2a Bi). Of critical importance to the debate is whether a CITES listing can contribute to the sustainable management of sea cucumbers. A number of issues have to be addressed before this question can be answered, including taxonomic uncertainties within the families, ability to distinguish taxa in the form they are traded, adequacy of biological information for making non-detriment findings, and ability to make legal acquisition findings.

At COP 12, Decisions 12.60 and 12.61 on sea cucumbers within the families Holothuridae and Stichopodidae were adopted. These decisions directed the CITES Secretariat to convene a technical workshop on sea cucumbers, and requested that the Animals Committee is to review the outcomes of the workshop, develop appropriate recommendations, and prepare for consideration at CoP13 a discussion document on the biological and trade status of these sea cucumbers.

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