Two weeks ago we waded around in the foreshore to collect sea cucumbers to put in our marine protected area. We were only able to collect about 30. It was low tide and the sun made the water very hot. The sea cucumbers were buried in the sand and they were hard to find, even by experienced Fijian eyes. Next time maybe we'll snorkel around at high tide when they're out and about.
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| Collecting sea cucumbers along the foreshore |
Sea cucumbers are a high value species because the are a delicacy in certain Asian cuisines. A truck comes around every week to buy dried sea cucumbers from local people to take to the market. Some sea cucumbers can grow very large. The larger the sea cucumber the higher the price.
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| Large sea cucumber from the outer reef (this one caught by a free diver to sell) |
Over-harvesting is the current reality -- as sea cucumbers move slowly, they are an easy target and easy money. One can apply for a special license to use SCUBA to harvest them. Fishermen are going farther and deeper to find them as their numbers decline.
We're hoping to learn more about sustainable harvest of sea cucumber species and to breed them in our marine protected area. It has potential to be a good income generator for the village if done the right way.
For more info, check out this cool fact sheet!
From http://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/Doc/FAME/Brochures/Anon_11_ISFC_09_SeaCucumbers.pdf
We also planted about 100 more mangroves from our mangrove nursery. We tried transplanting some 2 ft high seedlings a month ago, but they all died. It was an experiment. The nursery takes longer but it seems the survival rate is decent, although not great. If we plant a few seedlings together they seem to be able to withstand the tide/waves better. However, they are still susceptible to seaweed weighing them down and pigs digging them up at low tide.
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