Putting Into Practice An Ecosystem Approach To Managing Sea Cucumber Fisheries

Putting Into Practice an Ecosystem Approach to Managing Sea Cucumber Fisheries

Boom-and-bust cycles are commonplace in the exploitation history of sea cucumber fisheries but pandemic overfishing to critical levels now threatens the persistence of breeding stocks for future generations of coastal fishers. Resource managers must embrace an ecosystem approach to fisheries, in which biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and the concerns of stakeholders are taken into account alongside of the productivity of stocks and the economic gains from fishing. This booklet provides a "roadmap" for developing and implementing better management of sea cucumber fisheries.--Publisher's description.

Putting Into Practice an Ecosystem Approach to Managing Sea Cucumber Fisheries

A guide to northern sea cucumbers

This document synthesising knowledge on the northern sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa was prepared for all stakeholders, including industry participants, government scientists, policymakers, and academic researchers. Its aim is to highlight the uniqueness of this marine resource to guide the industry forward and to emphasize areas that deserve further investigation. Available data from eastern and northern Canada, eastern United States of America, Greenland, northern Europe and the Russian Federation are presented. Topics covered include the taxonomy, distribution, biology, and ecology of the species, the natural threats it faces, the current harvesting, processing and marketing practices, and the prospects for aquaculture development. Relying on a knowledge base gathered over more than 40 years, this contribution compares C. frondosa with other common commercial species of sea cucumbers to tease out the major aspects that set it apart. A final section provides a number of key recommendations for its management and conservation.