FAQ’s

Sea cucumbers are very slow moving echinoderms from the class holothuridaes. This means that they are closely related to sea stars and sea urchins and are found either on the sea bottom, on the reef, in reef crevices, or burrow in the sand.

Many species of sea cucumbers are harvested for human consumption. Like abalone, shark fin, fish maw and bird’s nest soup, sea cucumber is a delicacy that has been a symbol of affluence and luxury in Asian cuisine, typically reserved for special occasions like weddings, banquets, and Chinese New Year celebrations. They are highly nutritious, being low in both calories and fat but rich in protein and antioxidants.  

As bioturbators, sandfish are a key driver of biodiversity within the marine environment by upturning sediment and recycling key nutrients including CaCO₃ , a building block for reef and shellfish development. To survive, coral reefs must accumulate CaCO₃ at a rate greater than or equal to the CaCO₃ that is eroded from the reef.

All coral reefs are increasingly affected by climate-driven changes to ocean chemistry, a process called ocean acidification where increased ocean acidity interferes with coral calcification. Research has shown that a by-product of sea cucumbers is added CaCO₃ and NH₃, which as an alkaline buffers the impact of ocean acidification locally.

This depends on the regulations of the MPA. Sea cucumber ranching is non-invasive and could be fished around the limits of the MPA with a spillover effect, but will result in less return. While pen farming will require small fencing structures to be placed in the MPA, but allows for easy containment of the introduced sea cucumbers and higher return rates for farmers.

Not at all, in fact it is able to boost the wild population. By farming hatchery produced sea cucumbers, this provides an alternative to catching from the wild population and fishing pressure of sea cucumbers drastically decreases. Farming pens also act as an aggregated breeding zone which results in a spill-over effect with larvae and juveniles spreading outside of the farming area, increasing the wild sea cucumber population.

The overall process can take 1-2 years. Hatchery production of a juvenile will take 2-3 months to reach 15g, which are then handed to farmers to grow-out in pens. ASA runs trial pens before full-scale pens are developed to estimate growth and survival rates, and we aim to work in farming areas that can reach 450g within 14 months. This ensures a beneficial return rate for farmers.

ASA works with Holothuria scabra, commonly known as Sandfish. Sandfish are classed as endangered under IUCN, largely due to overfishing of wildstocks. However, ASA produces juveniles through sustainable hatchery techniques and has a strict farming protocol that ensures a regenerative mariculture model, which benefits wild sandfish populations as well as communities reliant on sea cucumber fisheries.