A Review of Sea Cucumber Aquaculture, Ranching, and Stock Enhancement in China

Sea cucumber aquaculture has flourished as a result of increasing demand coupled with declining wild fisheries and has been facilitated by technical progress in the production and grow-out phase of larvae and small juvenile sea cucumbers. China has developed a large and successful sea cucumber aquaculture industry based on the temperate species Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka, 1867). China consumes most of its domestic sea cucumber production (193, 705 tons: 2013), exporting only a few dozen tons. Much of the success of sea cucumber aquaculture in China came from advances in culture methods, especially for the early stages of broodstock conditioning, larval production and settlement, and the critical early juvenile development stage. These artificial approaches to production are a precondition for all aquaculture models, and the scientific procedures and management protocols must be strictly adhered to for success. Similarly, the grow-out phase of sea cucumber production in China has evolved from attempts using disused fish and shrimp ponds to new, dedicated ponds developed to meet the more sensitive requirements of sea cucumbers for water quality and substrate type and to the use of ocean ranching. Various diseases have affected this industry and become barriers to its sustainable development. To achieve higher survival rates and better production quality, the trend has been toward ocean ranching of sea cucumbers and stock enhancement, and production levels have increased significantly in recent years. While cost-effective methods for sea cucumber aquaculture close to their point of consumption is good news for wild stocks of sea cucumbers in different parts of the world, there is a potential downside in the environmental impact of such extensive production methods. The influence of sea cucumber aquaculture on the environment and the influence of the environment on sea cucumber aquaculture are important issues relating to ecological security and sustainability.