CHAPTER 1
1. INTRODUCTION
Sea cucumbers (class: Holothuraidae) are a group of marine invertebrates which are found in nearly every marine environment also provide an important source of livelihood for many artisanal fishers throughout the world, particularly for the developing countries in the tropical and subtropical regions. The Sea cucumbers are a significant source of income to many coastal communities and fulfill an important roles in marine ecosystems (FAO, 2010). It is mostly distributed in worldwide, abundant is in the Asia Pacific region ( FAO, 2012). The China, Ecuador, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines that have been heavily engaged in the industry for decades(Lovatelli et al. 2004). However a decade ago, the leading exporters were Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Korea, United States of America, Solomon Islands, Fiji Islands, Madagascar, Australia and New Caledonia; this has…show more content… Sea cucumbers are mass harvested for human consumption. Harvested sea cucumbers are usually gutted, boiled and dried before being exported to Asian markets. It is the dried product that is called “beche-de-mer”, is in great demand from east Asian countries like China, Hong Kong, Singapore where it is believed to have aphrodisiac and curative properties; (Byrne, 1993; Conand, 1997). The estimates valued the world trade in beche-de-mer at US$60 million in 1994 with global production at 12000 tons and at US$ 10.4 million in 2014 with national production at 250 Metric tons (Conand,1993; Conand, 1997). The price of beche-de-mer varies greatly among species and also within species depending on the size of the sand fish and the care with which it was processed to make the dried product. Generally, larger animals have a higher price per kilogram than smaller ones (Friedman, et al 2008). Increased demand for beche-de-mer is the main cause of inflated prices of sea cucumbers