Sea Cucumber (food) - Harvest

Harvest

Sea cucumbers destined for food are traditionally harvested by hand from small watercraft; a process anglicised into "trepanging" (after the Indonesian noun trepang). They are dried for preservation purposes and have to be rehydrated by boiling and soaking in water for several days. They are mainly used as an ingredient in Chinese cuisine soups or stews.

There are many commercially important species of sea cucumber that are harvested and dried for export for use in Chinese cuisine as Hoi sam. Some of the more commonly found species in markets include:

• Holothuria scabra (sandfish)
• Holothuria spinifera (brown sandfish)
• Holothuria fuscogilva (Bat susu, white teatfish)
• Actinopyga mauritiana (Spiny sea cucumber)
• Stichius japonicus
• Parastichopus californicus (giant California sea cucumber)
• Thelenota ananas (prickly redfish)
• Acaudina molpadioides

Western Australia has sea cucumber fisheries from Exmouth to the border of the Northern Territory, almost all of the catch is sandfish (Holothuria scabra). The fishing of the various species known as Bêche-de-mer is regulated by state and federal legislation.

Five other species are targeted in the state's Bêche-de-mer harvest, these are Holothuria noblis (white teatfish); Holothuria whitmaei (black fish); Thelenota ananas (prickly redfish); Actinopyga echninitis (deep-water redfish); and Holothuria atra (lolly fish).

In the far north of Queensland, Australia, sea cucumber are harvested from the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. Targeted species include Holothuria noblis (white teatfish), Holothuria whitmaei (black teatfish) and Holothuria scabra (sand fish). Divers are supplied air via hose or "hookah" from the surface and collect their catch by hand, diving to depths of up to 40 meters.

The largest American species is Holothuria floridana, which abounds just below low-water mark on the Florida reefs. There are plans to harvest this species for the sea cucumber market.