Thailand Sea cucumber fisheries|
| | Thailand Sea cucumber fisheries |
| Data Ownership | This document provided, maintained and owned by Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) , is part of SEAFDEC Sea Cucumbers Fisheries Reports data collection. |
| more>> <<less Overview: Sea cucumbers are benthic invertebrates generally found in coastal water with diverse species. They play the roles in ecosystem as decomposers and nutrient releasers in food chain. For human being, sea cucumbers have their long history as the traditional medical components and food. Thus, they are commercially important in many countries, especially in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific regions, for high-protein food, medical products, and supplementary food, resulted in a trend towards overfishing on the commercial species. In Thailand, a number of sea cucumber species have long been harvested both from the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea for local consumption, restaurant, and international trade. To serve the sufficient fact and scientific information for internationally ecological concern, the taxonomic classification, biology, production, utilization, and trade of sea cucumbers in Thailand were gathered in this fact sheet. This information collection would be useful for the management of sea cucumbers in this area.
Location of Thailand Sea cucumber fisheries
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Geographic reference: Thailand Spatial Scale: National Reference year: 2006
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| Fishing Activity Type of production system: Artisanal History Sea
cucumbers are exploited for long times in Thailand
along the coastal area and islands. The common
fishing methods are hand picking during low tide or
snorkeling at deeper water. Processing is confined
in local places with traditional techniques usually
gutted, cleaned, boiled, and dried or smoked. For
restaurant demand, Thailand imports processed sea
cucumbers from many parts of the world, totally 22
countries of which Madagascar was the majority. At
the same time the sea cucumbers are also exported
from the country mainly to Hong Kong followed
by the 8 countries in Asia and 3 other countries.
Recently, the quantities and values of their import
and export were not markedly different. The actual
species traded are not recorded.
Although there have been exploitation and trade
of sea cucumbers in the country for long times,
the fisheries is not significantly commercial. Fishery Area Climatic zone: Tropical. Bottom type: Coral reef; Seagrass. Depth zone: Coastal - Shallow waters, inshore (0 m - 50 m). Vertical distribution: Demersal/Benthic. Geo References  Exclusive Economic Zone Areas (EEZ) | THA - Thailand |
More Geo References The following area codes have been found as intersecting the location of Thailand Sea cucumber fisheriesMost of sea
cucumbers are coastal fauna, many of which prefer
hiding around coral reef or sea grass bed. Captured Species Thailand has a high diversity of sea cucumbers
recorded at 102 species in 8 families mainly
Holothuriidae, lots of which are under genus systematization.
From those in Thai waters, 9 species
of Holothuriidae and 3 species of Stichopodidae
are reported as food. The most commercially
important species is Holothuria scabra or sand
fish, followed by H. atra or lolly fish. Holothuria argus Stichopus variegates Fishing Technique Sea cucumbers have been harvested in Thailand
by the simple method by hand up to fishing gear
operation as followed:
- Picking by hand during low tide from intertidal
area and from shallow water.
- Snorkeling at deeper water up to 5-10 m.
- Punching by pointed metal spear mounted on a
long pole. This has been popular amongst sea
gypsy fishermen targeting high value species
such as Thelenota ananus, Actinopyga echinites,
and Holothuria nobilis, in deeper water.
- Two sea cucumber trawlers in Trang Province
of southern Thailand were recorded. They were
8-10 m long with 5-10 hp engines. The trawl
was 2.5 inch mesh-size polyethylene of 5-6 m
length and 3 cm codend mesh-size. Day-time
operation was done at the coastal area near sea
grass bed.
Local fishermen prefer to collect sea cucumbers
within nearby coastal zones during low tide; others
e.g., the sea gypsy in the Andaman Sea, indulge
in extensive migrations to offshore islands for
1-7 days trip fisheries. During these trips, sea
cucumbers are gutted and brought back to land for
further processing. Income from sea cucumber
fisheries varies from trip to trip depending on the
fishing effort, availability of resources and species
collected. Some species are collected during
daytime e.g., Holothuria leucospilota, while others
e.g., Stichopus variegates, are available at night. Post Harvest Fish Utilisation Local usage and processingNormally sea cucumbers are gutted by cutting the
head and bottom, cleaned with water and dried.
However, there are differences in technique from
place to place.
In southern Thailand, processing of Holothuria
scabra involved gutting and boiling the animals
in sea water for 1 hour. The fisherman then buries
them in the sand overnight, then taking out and
stepping on them for 10 to 20 minutes to squeeze
out their color. The sea cucumbers are boiled in water again for 1 hour, then brushed to remove the
spicules, before they are ready for consumption, or
dried for storage.
In Phangnga Province, southern Thailand, the sea
cucumbers are gutted and cleaned then boiled in
seawater with alum (aluminium potassium sulphate)
for 2 hours, before they are smoked for 1 day.
In Chonburi Province, eastern Thailand, the sea
cucumbers are gutted and cleaned, boiled in their
own coelomic fluid for at least 2 hours, then smoked
for 10 hours and sun-dried for 2 more days. The
water left in this process is put in 20-litre containers
and sold as the component of traditional medicine.
Weight ratio of dry sea cucumber to the fresh ones
is varied by species e.g., one hundred kilograms of
fresh Holothuria leucospilota can be 10 kilograms
of the smoked one.
The quality of dried sea cucumbers produced in some
places appears to be poor. Processing requires basic
equipments and the methods are straightforward,
but it needs to be carefully undertaken if good
quality product is desired.
Processed sea cucumbers are used for soup and
traditional salad. Markets Local fish marketsCooked, boiled, or dried sea cucumbers are sold at
local fish markets in the big cities, where restaurants
serve them in Chinese soup or salad. The price of
processed sea cucumbers varies by species and
markets. There are 12 species of sea cucumbers
consumed in Thailand, some of them are exported: - Holothuria scabra - Holothuriidae
- Holothuria atra - Holothuriidae
- Holothuria argus - Holothuriidae
- Bohadschia marmorata - Holothuriidae
- Holothuria spinifera - Holothuriidae
- Holothuria leucospilota - Holothuriidae
- Holothuria nobilis - Holothuriidae
- Holothuria edulis - Holothuriidae
- Actinopyga echinites - Holothuriidae
- Stichopus chloronotus - Stichopodidae
- Stichopus variegates - Stichopodidae
- Thelenota ananas - Stichopodidae
The most popular one among Thai is Holothuria
scabra (white sea cucumber or pling khao), followed
by H. atra (black sea cucumber or pling dam). TradeFrom the latest data reported in 2003, Thailand
imported sea cucumbers from 22 countries. The major one was Madagascar, followed
by Tanzania, China, Hong Kong, and others.
Thailand also exported sea cucumbers to 12
countries mostly to Hong Kong.
Apart from the majority in Asian countries, U.S.A., Niger, and Australia were included in the exported
countries of Thailand.
From overall data, the amounts and
values of imported and exported sea cucumbers in
Thailand are nearly the same. They were traded
mostly in processed form. Quantity and value of
traded sea cucumbers increased remarkably since
1999.
In addition, there has been some volume of trade at
borders of the country not existing in data base of
the concerned organization. Management Status of Management Sea cucumber fisheries, marketing and trade are not
recorded in national fisheries statistics; their stock
assessment and recruitment are not yet studied as
well. Nevertheless, due to their common habitats
locating in and around coral reefs, reef flats and sea
grass bed, strong harvesting of the animals would
certainly disturb or resulted in destruction of these
significantly-important coastal-ecosystems. Thus,
intensive monitoring on sea cucumber exploitation
and trade should be carried out for conservation and
long term sustainable exploitation purposes. More information on fisheries legislation at: FAOLEX legislative database Bibliography
The bibliographic references and aknowledgments are available in the report included in "Source of Information".
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