1. National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, Australia
Global analysis of sea cucumber fisheries: effectiveness of management measures and extinction risks
Steven Purcell
National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, Australia

2. Presentation overview
Sea cucumber fisheries
Results of global review of stock status and management
In the journal: Fish and Fisheries 14: 34–59
Implications for fisheries management and conservation
Extinction risk in sea cucumber fisheries
Potential measures to mitigate extinction

3. Are sea cucumber fisheries significant?
Fished from Mediterranean and East Africa through Indo-Pacific to Central America
Insatiable market demand from China
Often the most valuable invertebrate fishery export from countries
Recently more valuable than all fish exports in New Caledonia and Tonga
Our data indicated probably >3 million people fishing sea cucumbers globally

4. Status of Pacific sea cucumber stocks?

5. Sea cucumber fisheries
Captures of high-value species

6. Scale of fishing Most Indo-Pacific fisheries are small scale
Few fisheries were for subsistence only

7. Number of species harvested
1 to 47 species exploited in each fishery
Temperate species often mono-specific

8. Yields per fisher vs participation rate
Landings per fisher in tropical fisheries ( ) related significantly to participation rates.
2 – 10 fishers 100-km-2

9. Number of regulatory measures used & Enforcement capacity

10. Key management measures used
Significant difference in management measures used:
Under-exploited Over-exploited
Moderatly-exploited vs. Depleted
Fully exploited
Multivariate analysis
Management measure % dissimilarity contribution
Enforcement
Capacity control
Limited entry requirements
Rotational harvest closures
Number of species harvested

11. Key analysis conclusions
Sea cucumber fisheries fare worse than most fisheries globally.
Sustainability of troubled sea cucumber fisheries will only come from the adoption of radically different approaches to management

12. Key changes needed for fisheries management
Enforcement capacity is paramount to fisheries sustainability
A set of at least 4 or 5 key regulatory measures is needed (but keep it simple!)
The most successful regulatory measures:
limited entry rules,
fleet capacity regulations,
restrictions on the number of harvested species, and
licensing requirements.
Allowing all species to be harvested opens the door to ‘opportunistic exploitation’

13. Measures to mitigate the loss of biodiversity
Key points:
no correspondence between the presence of marine reserves and the sustainability of fisheries
marine reserves representing just a small proportion of habitats will not suffice as a sole management measure in sea cucumber fisheries
International agreements and instruments may help safeguard loss of biodiversity in over-exploited or severely depleted fisheries (e.g., CITES listing and IUCN Red List)

14. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species - assessment workshop on sea cucumbers, Colombia 2010
Evaluated extinction risk against IUCN criteria for 377 sea cucumber species (order Aspidochirotida)
Relied on reports, research articles and country stock assessments to determine stock declines and distributions

15. Extinction risk categories – IUCN

16. Findings from Assessment workshop
7 species were Endangered
9 species were Vulnerable
A high proportion (68%) of species were classed as Data Deficient
High-value species tended to be most at risk of extinction

17. Findings from Assessment workshop
Low-income countries in the tropics have the highest number of threatened sea cucumber species

18. Key management implications of IUCN assessment
International market demand is a key driver of extinction in some invertebrate fisheries, like sea cucumbers
Fishery managers should pay special attention to managing high-value species conservatively:
Species-specific catch quotas, or
Species-specific bans, or
Exclude them from lists of allowable species
CITES may help control trade, but CITES listing of sea cucumbers has so far proven difficult

19. What would listing of certain species on CITES Appendix II or III mean?
Appendix III
Provides assistance to countries in the enforcement of national trade regulations.
Export permit required.
Only animals obtained in compliance with national laws (of the source country) can be traded.
Appendix II
Same as Appendix II plus the following:
Export permits should be granted only when “a Scientific Authority of the State of export has advised that such export will not be detrimental to the survival of that species”. In other words, countries must demonstrate that the trade is non-detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild.

20. New Identification guidebook on sea cucumbers
Intended for:
Customs officers – dried product
Fishery officers – live animals