Sea cucumbers to be raised in commercial scale
WHAT was once thought to be unthinkable in aquaculture industry will soon be a reality, Sea cucumbers will be cultured and for the first time in fishponds to co-exist with shrimps following a successful experiment conducted by the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) in Dagupan City.
This was disclosed by Dr. Westly Rosario, executive director of the National Fisheries Research Institute (NFRI), concurrently NIFTDC chief, who spearheaded the experiment, in collaboration with scientists from the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, UP Visayas and UP Mindanao.
The experiment was funded by a grant from the Australian International Agricultural Research (ASIAR) and World Fish.
The experiment started in February following the holding of World Conference on Sea Cucumber at the Asian Fisheries Academy based at NIFTDC in barangay Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City.
The experiment, having successfully bred sea cucumbers in captivity, will proceed with the dispersal of the juveniles in the coastal areas of the Hundred Islands to determine their migration pattern behavior as part of the continuing experiment.
After an expected positive evaluation, the cultured sea cucumbers will be distributed to shrimp growers to be raised in their ponds along with shrimps.
Inside fishponds, the cucumber will serve a dual purpose-that of being a commodity for export and for cleaning the pond of bacteria, waste matters, including droppings of shrimps as well as un-consumed feeds.
The Philippines is the world’s second largest exporter of dried sea cucumber that fetches P4,000 per kilo. The number one exporter is Indonesia.
But the sea cucumber being exported by both countries are sourced mainly from collections along the seashores by fish farmers and their families and not from commercial farms.
Dried sea cucumber is in great demand by Chinese restaurants here and abroad as a delicacy.
Rosario revealed that another experiment being conducted is the extraction of medicinal value from sea cucumber.— LM.
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