Tag Archives: Sea cucumber
Water content deductions keeping harvesters sitting out the summers sea cucumber fishery
Sea cucumbers represent a $10-million industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, according to Fish Food & Allied Workers president Keith Sullivan. The creatures are a delicacy in Asian countries and other markets, and fetch a price of 70 cents per pound, according to the province’s fishery pricing panel. When catches are landed, processors drain the water inside sea cucumbers to remove the weight of the sea water from the buying price. 
Harvesters used to deduct 23 per cent of the sea cucumber’s weight across the board to account for the water, but that percentage has been changed in the past year, and Sullivan says the harvesters’ bottom lines are being impacted. “Whereas other years you might be getting paid for 80 per cent or close to that of the animal, this year in a couple of cases we’re talking just over 50 per cent,” >click to read< 11:43
Southeast dive fisheries, crab seasons start in October
The season for geoduck clam diving starts Oct. 1. The first opening could be Oct. 3 or 4, depending on testing for the toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. The region’s guideline harvest level is 702,100 pounds. The large clams are plucked from the ocean floor and shipped whole and live to overseas markets, if the clams don’t test too high for PSP or inorganic arsenic. There are a couple of changes for that fishery this year. Past openings have been only from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., one day a week. The Board of Fisheries last winter approved a 1,000-pound weekly harvest limit. >click to read<12:48
Sea Cucumber: Ocean Choice International in St. Lawrence highlighted during Innovation Day
It’s not the kind of cucumber you’d put in a green salad. But the slimy-looking sea creature is the type of thing that finds its way to the Asian dinner plate; sold at pricey restaurant as a delicacy, the dried product is often rehydrated to be used in rice salads and/or soups. Production of sea cucumber has allowed the plant to extend its production season. And that’s meant jobs for over 100 people at the Ocean Choice International (OCI) plant in St. Lawrence. Production of sea cucumber has allowed the plant to extend its production season.,, “The inshore vessels have gotten so much better, the product quality that has been coming from the inshore sector over the last two decades is improved immensely, snow crab, shrimp, sea cucumbers,”Blaine Sullivan says. “When I started in the business Canada, and Newfoundland, was not renowned for quality (in seafood) but it is today. There’s been a big change and that’s something this industry should be proud of, and should talk more about.” >click to read<19:13
ACOA loans a half-million dollars to a Nova Scotia company helping Chinese men get boners
The sea cucumber, an alleged aphrodisiac, is getting Nova Scotians excited. ACOA is extending a $500,000 loan to Ocean Pride Fisheries to develop products from sea cucumbers, reports the CBC: A relation of sea urchins and starfish, sea cucumbers are caught by dragging a narrow roll bar, which skips along the ocean floor. The company has an enterprise allocation quota for 771,100 kilograms caught off the coast of Nova Scotia. It currently employs about 70 people on a seasonal basis and will add another 25, according to [Ocean Pride president Jules] Leblanc. Read the post,click here 10:57
HONOLULU – State Land Board approves emergency ban on sea cucumber harvesting
A snapshot of a boatload of sea cucumbers taken recently in Waimanalo got people’s attention, but not in a good way. Land board members heard from Native Hawaiians who say even though they worry about how their cultural gathering rights will be affected, they support this temporary ban on the taking of sea cucumbers.“It’s a boom or bust fishery. The fishermen can collect a large number of animals in a small amount of time.” Alton Miyasaka, Aquatic Resources, said 17 people recently applied for commercial fishing licenses. Read the rest here 09:28
Sea cucumber management changes take effect June 11
A commercial daily trip and vessel limit of 200 sea cucumbers will go into effect June 11 in state and federal waters off Florida. Read more here 11:58
American Samoa: Sea cucumber off limits for 6 months
Governor Lolo has signed an executive order placing a ban on the removal of sea cucumbers from local waters. The worm-like and usually soft-bodied echinoderms keep the reefs clean. However in recent years, the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources has seen the species being removed in alarmingly great numbers and exported to Asia, where they are a staple in stir-fry, soups and stews. [email protected] 22:57
Sea cucumber fishery sees higher than average price
The commercial sea cucumber fishery is wrapping up with a total of 1.4 million pounds harvested as of last Thursday. Scott Walker, Ketchikan Area Management Biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said the fishery started out with around 195 commercial divers when it opened in early October. more@petersburgpilot 21:00
