Artisanal and industrialized fishers from more than 40 countries harvest more than 60 species of sea cucumbers.
These low-food-chain resources play important roles in nutrient recycling and sediment health in marine habitats.
Owing to ease of capture and vulnerable biological traits, sea cucumbers have been easily overexploited in most
countries, sometimes to local extinction. Few sea cucumber fisheries are currently managed sustainably. They differ greatly in the scale of the fishing activities, status of stocks and management capacity. This document  summarizes general management principles and a general framework for developing and implementing a management plan. Through a few questions and simple indicators, managers are guided to choose appropriate sets of regulatory measures and management actions for different sea cucumber fisheries. Safeguarding sea cucumber stocks for current and future generations will require an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) that applies precautionary measures with the participation of stakeholders. Success in applying an EAF will require consideration of the reproductive productivity of stocks, ecosystem health and the socio-economic systems that drive exploitation.

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Sea cucumbers are important resources for coastal livelihoods and ecosystems. At least 60 species are fished from more than 40 countries and most of the harvests are processed then exported to Asian markets. Sea cucumbers generally appear to have slow rates of population turnover and are easily harvested in shallow waters in the tropics. With retail prices of up to USD300–500 per kg (dried), exploitation has often been indiscriminant and excessive. Overfishing in recent years has led to local extinction of high-value species in some localities and prompted closures of many national fisheries to allow stocks to recover and to allow more sustainable management plans to be established. Apart from a few developed countries, only a small number of sea cucumber fisheries are currently being managed sustainably. Sea cucumber fisheries differ greatly in the scale of the fishing activities, status of stocks and the capacity of the management agency. Consequently, some management measures will be appropriate in some fishery scenarios but not others. This document presents a logical framework to assist fishery managers in choosing an appropriate suite of regulatory  measures and management actions and elaborates on the uses, limitations and ways to implement them. This document contains five main sections. The first provides an overview of the biology and ecology of sea cucumbers, the international market for beche-demer market, types of sea cucumber fisheries and their global status (i.e. population abundance). The second section summarizes fisheries management principles and approaches, with an emphasis on the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). The third section provides the “roadmap”, by way of instructions, flow diagrams and tables, to lead fishery managers along the path of choosing management measures appropriate to their fishery. The fourth and fifth sections discuss the application of each regulatory measure and management action – with Examples and lessons learned boxes to illustrate management problems and potential solutions from various fisheries. Improved management of sea cucumber fisheries is an imperative. It will be best achieved by applying an EAF, in which multiple regulatory measures and management actions are applied in full consideration of the sea cucumber stocks, the ecosystems in which they live and the socio-economic systems that drive exploitation. The commitment of governments, fishery managers and scientists to develop, apply and strictly enforce EAF will be crucial to sustaining sea cucumber populations for current and future generations

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Sea cucumbers are fished worldwide but over-exploited in most countries (Lovatelli et al. 2004). International workshops have recently developed manuals on management of these resources. Sea cucumber populations can be slow to recover from overfishing and must be managed conservatively. In New Caledonia, the sea cucumber fishery has operated since the 1840’s (Conand 1990). Now, it is based primarily on about 12 species, exported as dried ‘bêche-de-mer” to Asian markets. In 2007, the reported export value of sea cucumbers from New Caledonia (404,613,500 XPF1, or 5.3 million USD) was twice that of tuna (202,305,100 XPF) or other fish (14,828,600 XPF) — ranking it the second-most valuable marine export commodity after farmed shrimp (1,527,422,000 XPF). Based on a need by the provinces to better understand and manage the sea cucumber resource of la Grande Terre, a ZoNéCo project was developed by the WorldFish Center. This report covers work coordinated by the WorldFish Center from October 2006 to May 2008 for the project “Assessment and management of sea cucumber stocks in the Northern and Southern Province of New Caledonia”. It describes results of field population surveys (sea cucumbers, giant clams and trochus), landing  surveys, socio-economic surveys with fishers and processors, and the conclusions from a workshop with stakeholders on fishery management. The main emphasis is on sea cucumbers. 

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SocMonitor is an electronic bulletin about the Global Socio-economic Monitoring Initiative to update everyone on what is happening with socio-economic monitoring through the SocMon and SEM-Pasifika initiatives. This is the July issue of the SocMonitor and also the first anniversary of SOCMON issue. Inside this issues of Socmonitor included:

• Caribbean Challenge SocMon underway
• South Asia SocMon update
• SocMon training for Municipal Government of Taytay
• That's all for 2011

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The Australian Government has committed to international and national biodiversity goals for conserving  threatened species, yet the globally agreed target to signifi cantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 has not been achieved. This year marks the International Year of Biodiversity. With many experts stating that Australia is in the early stages of a mass extinction, 2010 is an important opportunity for the Australian  Government to make commitments to arrest this decline in biodiversity. This report draws attention to the role of critical habitat designation and protection in the marine environment. Currently less than 5% of Australia’s marine environment is highly protected and marine conservation is much further behind terrestrial efforts. The identifi cation and protection of critical habitat should form the central plank of any long term strategy to stem biodiversity loss and form an essential element of threatened species recovery. Protecting habitat in the marine realm can differ in approach to terrestrial efforts, particularly given the inherent mobile and dynamic nature of the marine environment. However, a wide range of conservation tools and legislative options can be effectively used to help overcome these challenges and allow for a holistic approach that will maximise critical
habitat protection. These tools are detailed in 10 recommendations with the overall objective of a streamlined, systematic and cost effective approach towards identifying and protecting critical habitat in the marine  environment. They include:

• Mapping critical habitat;
• Registering critical habitat within 12 months of listing new threatened species;
• Bringing critical habitats as a priority into marine protected areas, indigenous protected areas or conservation zones refl ecting in the marine environment an existing target for terrestrial species under the National Reserve System 2030 Strategy;
• Committing to protection for critical habitats using arrange of available conservation and regulatory tools.
The range includes use of various provisions in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act, temporary closures of areas to specifi c uses, fisheries management measures and strengthening of environment, fisheries, mining, shipping and petroleum legislation.

While this report predominantly focuses on the marine environment, the recommendations should be integrated into the National Biodiversity Strategy for the Federal Government (working with state and territory
governments) with an overarching goal to halt and then reverse the decline of biodiversity both in the marine
and terrestrial environments. The recommendations should also be included as part of the Federal   government’s response to the Hawke Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, 1999 as the key legislative tool for implementing the National Biodiversity Strategy. By adopting these recommendations, governments can demonstrate true commitment to protecting Australia’s  status as the most ‘megadiverse’ of all the developed countries.

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