Please click here to download the meeting documents for the sea cucumber symposium that took place in February in Nouméa.

Meeting announcement:

We announce the intention of SPC and Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) to jointly hold the 'Asia-Pacific Tropical Sea Cucumber Symposium' on 14-17 February 2011, hosted at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, to review the current global technical status, and consequent policy implications for PICTs, of emerging aquaculture practices and release strategies for sea cucumber (with particular emphasis upon Sandfish Holothuria scabra).

The Symposium will focus on the current status of research on tropical sea cucumber aquaculture, with emphasis upon Sandfish Holothuria scabra, and covering a range of topics such as:

• recent advances in hatchery production technology,
• release strategies, farming techniques,
• management practices,
• post-harvest technologies for value adding,
• supply chains and marketing.

The Symposium will identify gaps in current knowledge and generate recommendations for future research or policy work needed to support development of sustainable tropical sea cucumber aquaculture. The Symposium is NOT intended to address inshore fishery issues like current status of sea cucumber stocks or sea cucumber fisheries management, since these matters are dealt with under other regional processes.