A pilot study to investigate the survival of Stichopus horrens after viscera harvest in Samoa

Abstract

In Samoa, sea cucumbers are harvested for subsistence and artisanal purposes. Four species are targeted by local fishers: peanutfish, Stichopus horrens 4 (local name sea); brown sandfish, Bohadschia vitiensis; lollyfish, Holothuria atra; and the leopard or tigerfish, Bohadschia argus. S. horrens is the most sought after species and is fished for its viscera (generally the intestine, but also respiratory tree and gonads). The viscera product is removed from live animals and consumed raw, while processed animals are returned to the water alive. The viscera product from sea is placed — along with body wall strips from other sea cucumbers — in bottles filled with seawater and sold at local markets and along the roadside (Figs. 1 and 2). This species is also fished in other parts the Pacific, such as Tonga (K. Friedman, pers obs). Sea supports a “gamat water”5 industry in Malaysia (Baine and Forbes 1998; Baine and Choo 1999), where its use as a traditional nutrition and drug agent is well documented (Ridzwan et al. 2003; Hawa et al. 1999).